A Keyblader Christmas
by zumby101
Summary: Terra, Aqua, and Ven celebrate christmas with their master. Ven, having no memory treats this like his first christmas. Aqua and Terra see there families which they havent seen in a couple years.
1. the ultimate snowball fight

**I wanted to do some form of Christmas story so this is what I came up with. R&R please**

The land of departure was covered with a thick blanket of snow with more coming down, showing no sign of stopping anytime soon. While the beautiful little ice droplets fell, on the summit there were 3 figures with snow gear on sitting behind three large mounds of snow. One was tall, had brown hair, and was very built. His name was Terra and he was snickering while he held a snowball in one hand and his keyblade in the other.

While near a smaller mound was a thin, scrawny, blonde boy named Ventus or Ven for short. Who was holding about twenty snowballs in his arms, eager to throw them all at once, that is once his master told him to start.

Then crouching next to the last mound of snow was a tall, blue haired, thin girl named Aqua with keyblade in hand and two snowballs in the other. There was tension in the air as these three friend exchanged glances at each other trying to make the other chicken out

And overlooking it all on the cliff right above the summit was a man in a white robe with his hood up. He was their master, Master Eraqus, he wore a small devious grin on his face as he rose his arm to sky, making his three students flinch slightly with anticipation, then he struck it back down as he yelled out

"FIGHT!" at the drop of the line Terra immediatly jumped into the air and threw all his snowballs straight up above him. Ven and Aqua noticed that Terra left himself wide open and started to pelt him with snowballs. But before they could even cock their arms back he raised his keyblade into the air making it build up a chilling blue aura at the end as he yelled

"Deep freeze!" then out the top of his blade spewed ice crystals that latched onto his mid air snowballs making them as big as boulders that eclipsed the sun over Ven and Aqua as they rushed down onto the two making them panic and desperately try to dodge. His master chuckled as he gave his a hand clap

"Nicely done Terra" their master commented as Ven quickly scattered away from his spot with snowballs in hand and as Aqua drew her keyblade back and began to charge it up with a red aura. But while Ven ran he noticed an opportunity that Aqua practically waved in his face and took it as he threw his insane amount of snowballs at her making her fall to the ground and interrupting her magic.

"Ha gotcha Aqua!" Ven selfishly gloated,

"Good use of a distraction Ven but you let your guard down" his master pointed out making him look back to Terra's three giant snow boulders that were coming to close for comfort

"OH GEEZ!" Ven yelled out as he tried to run away in a hopeless effort

"Game over Ven" Terra said as he descended down to the ground assured of his victory.

"Ventus don't run from it face it head on!" Ven being very obedient to his master quickly stopped and faced the snow boulders. He quickly tried to think of something to save his skin and came up with one desperate move. He quickly leapt into the air and drew out his keyblade in a flash

"Wind!" he yelled out as he spun in the air creating a great swirling wind that ricocheted the giant snowballs back to Terra who had his feet firmly back on the ground. He had his eyes closed for a second, taking in what was to be his victory, before his master said

"Terra don't ever assume the battle's over" that made him open his eyes quickly and look at his rushing balls of snow now heading toward him instead of them.

"Oh god!" he said then jumped up into the air and drew out his keyblade and slammed his projectiles to the ground making three big hills of snow. Then when Terra landed back on the ground he rushed up one of the newly formed hills while Ventus at the same time did the same. When they met up they immediately locked keyblades, each testing the other's strength. Though, Terra had a big advantage over Ven because of his heavier blade that was practically forcing Ven onto his knees. But Ven had a equally good advantage, his agility. So when Terra had him pinned on his knees he did a quick leg sweep making Terra lose his footing and fall backwards onto his back, landing on his palms to lessen the fall leaving him vulnerable. Ven quickly took this gambit and jumped back to raise his keyblade at Terra. Terra quickly got his stance back and in response to Ven's stance rose his keyblade at him and charged up a spell along with Ven

"Deep freeze!" They both yelled out in near unison as the blasts of ice collided with each other making a mini frozen tundra in-between the two. Both still had equal control over the tundra but not for long as both fought for it, each trying to make their spell stronger than the other's

"Give up Ven we know who's gonna win!" Terra said confidently as he tried to force his spell to out power Ven's

"Yeah me!" Ven shouted, having no intention of giving up without a fight. But while the two best friends fought it out, Ven didn't even notice that Aqua was sneakfully approaching him from behind. Acting quickly Aqua pointed her keyblade at the tundra and cast out a deep freeze of her own causing Ven's side of the tundra to overpower Terra's. Terra yelled out as the a frozen whirlwind was forced onto him. Ven laughed as he slumped his arms onto the back his head, not even noticing when Aqua rushed up to him and threw a single snowball at Ven, catching his attention

"Hey wait what?" Ven questioned, completely forgetting about Aqua, as he turned around only to be bombarded by the rest of Aqua's snowballs, one of them even got caught in Ven's mouth making him fall back into the snow hill creating a big Ventus shaped imprint on the snow and also tossing some snow into the air making it blur. When the snow fell back down to the ground Aqua got a good look at a now frozen Terra who couldn't move even his head and had icicles forming under his noise and under his big forearms. Aqua chuckled because of the position both of her friends were in as her master jumped down to the summit and walked over to Aqua to raise her hand into the air and proclaim

"Aqua wins" Terra tried to say 'yay' through the ice and Ven saying hooray as he picked himself up while spitting the snow out of his mouth and tussling tons of it off his hair. Aqua just giggled at that then helped him out by ruffling what was left in his hair. Ven just returned the favor with a grin

"Thanks Aqua nice snowball fight" he said then stuck out his hand for Aqua to shake which she did.

"You did good to Ven" she said as she grinned humbly while their master proudly smiled at his students, he indeed felt a great sense of joy that his teaching were defiantly making them into better humanbeings. Then out of this moment of silence and humility came a muffled noise that made all three of them look at the Terra-cicle

"….itttle….elp" they heard through the ice. Aqua and Ven felt a little dumb that they forgot about Terra as they exchanged humility grins. Then they raised their blades and charged up a red aura and yelled

"FIRE!"

**Later…**

Terra was next to the fireplace with a bucket of hot water under his feet and a tightly wrapped a blanket around him as he tried to keep his runny nose in check. Then out of the blue Aqua walked in and put her hand on Terra's shoulder.

"How are you doing?" she asked as he looked at her with a grin

"Still feel lou…loou…AAHH CHOO!"

"Ew Cover your mouth!" she said with a quick step back as he wiped off his nose

"Sorry, that one caught me by surprise" Terra said in a sickly voice as he snorted to keep his nose clear. Aqua looked at him disgustingly then took a chair next to him and kept him close company, or as much as she would allow.

"Sorry about that Terra" she said just so he would know that she didn't mean to freeze him. He looked over at her and slightly smiled

"It's ok, I'm a quick healer. I'll be back on my feet after a good rest" he reassured Aqua as he laid back into his seat. Then Ven came running into the room with a steaming bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other.

"Terra" He said as he presented him the steaming soup "Here you go one bowl of chicken noodle soup. Steaming hot just like you like it" Ven then lowered it to Terra's lap and handed him his spoon. Terra returned his nice gesture with a nod and a humble smile, being that was all he could do in his weaken state. With his good deed done Ven sat on the ground next to Aqua and just stayed there in the company of his friends for awhile. He loved doing this, only because it was one of the only forms of relaxation he knew. He still couldn't remember much before master Xeahnort dropped him off here a couple months ago, but it really didn't bother him that much since he had good friends like these guys to make new memories with. He sat there waiting for someone to start a conversation and was going to try start one. Then he noticed that Aqua was looking out the window at the slowly falling snow that landed ever so gracefully onto the trees and mountains that surrounded their castle.

Ven too was then memorized at the same beautiful frozen water droplets that fell to the ground. Enjoying the scene even more when the wind came in and blew them into the pale moon light, making them glisten like a millions tiny stars. Terra not wanting to be left out got up with the blanket still wrapped around him and stood next to his best friends to get a better view on snow fall

"I just can't wait…" Aqua said as Ven then looked at her with a raised brow

"Can't wait for what?" Ven asked as Terra kept his eyes glued to the winter sky

"Yeah it is the best time of the year…" Terra said, while Ven still questioned what they were talking about. Then before he could ask again, Terra and Aqua said it in unison

"Christmas"

**This was actually fun to do, really reminded me of some happy Christmas memories. Please review if you want to….. and don't question why someone is posting a Christmas story in the middle of the year.**

**10/13/11 I just decided to fix some of the early chapters in this story out of bordom so I hope I actually accomplished what I set out to do. So R&R if you like it**


	2. family

After some time with each other the trio departed to their rooms to sleep, Aqua helping Terra back to his room.

Leaving Ven alone in his room, looking at the ceiling, wondering what Christmas is. It sounded vaguely familiar to him but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it meant. As he wondered his head shifted to the side to his window. He looked outside to see that, for the moment, the snow had stopped falling leaving a endless blanket of white fluff on his home. All of this, the snow, a warm he was getting even in the cold of December, and the phrase Christmas It all felt very familiar. He sighed as he rolled over on his side and grabbed his covers

The one thing he wished for right now… was just to remember why.

**The next morning**

Aqua woke up and stepped out her room in a light blue robe and headed down to the kitchen for some breakfast. To her surprise she smelled something really good as she drew closer to the kitchen. When she finally entered she found the source of it. It was her master making something in pan and tossing it in the air, lighting a firaga off too cook the contents of the pan, and catching it back in the pan.

"Good morning Aqua" he said with a nod and a smile

"Good morning master" she said with a bow as she took a seat by the counter next to the stove that her master was using. She inhaled the delicious smell of cheese and cooking eggs and couldn't help show how hungry she was

"Would you like a omelet Aqua?"

"Yes master I would thank you" he graciously set down the one he made on a plate and started making another one for himself. As he was doing this, Terra walked into the kitchen, not wearing a shirt, and entering with a yawn as he waved to his master and friend.

"Good morning Terra, I hope that you slept well" he said as he tossed his omelet into the air, flipping two times, and caught it as it fell back down. Aqua clapped at her master's trick as Terra walked to the fridge and got some orange juice and two glasses.

"How are you feeling?" Aqua asked as Terra sat down next to her

"A whole lot better than last night" he said as he poured himself a glass of oj and gestured to Aqua to ask if she wanted some. She nodded and Terra poured another glass for her as there master had finished his omelet and set it on a plate. He grabbed out two forks and handed one to Aqua before both of them dug in

"Wow… this is good" she said as he master humbly smiled

"Well thank you Aqua" he said as he cut another piece off of his and took another bite while Terra just sipped some orange juice and stretched out his arms and back, he wasn't much of a breakfast guy.

Their master knew that Ven wasn't coming down yet, he wasn't a early bird. Which was excellent for him, because he needed to tell Terra and Aqua something

"Aqua, Terra…" they both looked at their master with intrigue as they both stopped eating

"…. I have a task for the both of you when you are finished with your breakfast"

"What is it master?" Terra asked. Their master walked to a window in the back of the kitchen and looked out onto the land.

"…..as you can tell by the weather, the holidays are soon to be upon us…." He then turned back to face them.

"…..I have two things I want you to do, one I want you to find a tree outside to put in the castle…" Aqua and Terra smiled at that, they always loved going out to find a tree and this year they could bring Ven out with them to help.

"… but there is also something else…" they kept their gazes on their master as he continued. The next thing he asked was something both of them wouldn't have expected him to say

"… how long has it been since both of you have seen your families? Perhaps it's been years if I remember correctly. I bring this up because, I have invited your families to stay with us for christmas" Aqua lit up as soon as her master told her that. She hadn't seen her mother or her little sister in over 3 years. The same enthusiasm wasn't shared with Terra

The instant he heard him say that, Terra gritted his teeth and had a worried expression on his face. One of the main reasons he so willingly left his home 3 years ago was to be away from his father, who always wanted him to be perfect and whenever he failed or did something he didn't like he would always get furious with him. Terra's happy look on Christmas just deluded itself into a murky sad image of him being yelled at by his father. Then again he thought, he'd be able to see his little sister and mother again. They were the only part of his childhood that actually made it shine. His grim outlook had changed back into a semi happy Christmas image, so long as his mother and sister are still the same.

"I will also let you go shopping later if you want. I'll be expecting everything to be taken care of before bed, so please enjoy the day my students" he said as he walked out of the kitchen with his omelet in hand as he ate it. As he walked out of the kitchen, to his surprise, he saw his youngest pupil walking in with a tired look on his face and a really bad bed head.

"Good morning Ventus. It's rare to see you up this early"

"Morning master and only woke up because of that good smell" Ven entered the kitchen and saw his two best friends with smiles on their faces and breakfast on the counter. Terra's smile was bit weaker then Aqua's, still thinking of his father, but it was there none the less.

"What are you guys so happy about?"

"Are families are coming for the holidays" Aqua said as Ven immediatly wondered what that was.

"Uhhhh… what's a family?" Ven asked Aqua who thought he was joking until she looked into his eyes to see he was actually serious.

"Really what's a family?" he asked again as Terra leaned forward and answered it for him

"A family is a bunch of people just like you that care for you no matter what" his thoughts dwelled on his mother and sister as he said that. Aqua nodded in agreement

"Yeah that's a family Ven, people who care about you" Ven thought about it for a second then smiled at his friends as he walked up to them and grabbed some oj from Terra. When they finished, Aqua and Terra put their stuff in the sink then ran back up the stairs to go get dressed. While Ven stayed in the kitchen getting something to eat as he kept repeating the new word he found to call his friends

"Their my family"


	3. reflections of the past

Terra, Aqua, and Ven had finished their breakfast. Listening to what their master told them, they were in their winter gear looking around for a good pine tree outside. Ven ran up and pointed to a short one that was about half his height

"How about this one?"he asked as they both only took a glimpse at it and held back a laugh. It was cute but not festive

"Way to small Ven" he whined a little then ran around again trying to find a bigger tree. Terra thought he found a good one but the instant he touched it all of the pine needles fell off and created a mini avalanche because of the snow on the tree. A small snow mound piled on top of Terra, burying him alive. Aqua gasped then ran over to him and quickly began to dig him out of the snow. When she reached the top of his hood Terra used his strength to pop his head out, making a snow beard unconciously. Aqua put her hand to her mouth and tried to hold back her laughter

"Wh…wha…what?..." he said while his teeth chattered

"Nothing Santa" she said as she dug more and eventually pulled him out of the snow. He shook once to get the snow off and accidently got some on Aqua who was trying to shield herself with her arms. She was laughing all the way through it. Not because it was that funny but because it reminded her of her Christmas with her family

**About three years ago…**

A little girl was running down a steep incline, giggling as she ran. While tailgating behind her was a bigger girl who looked a little like her

"EVY! Wait up!" she yelled out as she kept running, huffing as she did. Evy had long bluish hair that she had tied in a pony tail with glasses in front of her green eyes that she didn't like to wear but needed to or else she was practically blind. She was quickly coming up to a turn, trying to go to the sandlot. But she started swirling, not noticing the ice when she turned as Aqua gasped and rushed to her sister

"AHHHHHH AQUA HEELLLLPPPP!" Aqua skid on the ice, controlling her momentum better than her sister as she caught up to her. She grabbed on to and skid to a stop to make sure she was alright. Not even noticing a truck was rushing toward her and her sister. A loud honk mad her gasp in fear as she quickly pushed her sister out of the way and flinched up her arms.

"AQUA!" she thought that was going to be the last thing she heard. But after her sister's scream she heard a crash, she was certain that she had died. But 5 seconds later she could still feel the brisk winter air going through her trembling legs. 'What the… shouldn't I not feel anything?' she thought as she opened her eyes to see what was going on. She could not believe what was happening before her eyes and neither could Evy on the sidelines. Infront of her was a barrier that held back a now crashed version of the truck she pushed her sister away from.

'What the…?' she thought to herself as the barrier began to dissolve. She looked to her hands to see a slight sparkle coming off them, only adding to the weirdness that was happening around her. Her little sister snapped out of her awe and shock and ran over to her sister.

"Aqua are you ok?" she asked innocently as Aqua looked over to her and lightly shrugged

"I don't know… come on let's go home. I don't feel like being outside right now" she said with little argue from her sister as she grabbed her sister's hand and helped lead her back to their home.

Little did she know that a top a building was a man in a white robe with his hode up and a little brown haired boy wearing a black winter jacket. The man looked down at the Aqua and said only this

"Another chosen one… just like you Terra"

**Now**

Terra and Aqua were now looking through the forest for Ven, who was hiding behind a tree with a big grin on his face. On her search for Ven, Aqua found herself walking toward a medium size tree. She looked at it from tip to roots, thinking that this might be the perfect tree they'd been looking for

'Come on Aqua, come on, move a little bit closer' Ven thought while he hid behind the tree

"Hey Terra! This one looks good!" she pointed to the tree with a smile as he came over. He took a look at it and nodded in agreement.

"Good eye Aqua. Stand back I'll chop it down" He walked toward the tree and drew out his keyblade. Then out from behind Ven jumped out and flailed his arms in the air like a manic.

"BOO!" he yelled out as Terra stood there unmoved and unshaken, as did Aqua. Ventus landed in the snow face first getting most of it in his eyes. Then he quickly stood up and looked up at who he thought was Terra.

"Did I scare you?" he said jokingly

"Not really Ven, I saw your hair on the side of the tree while you were hiding. Try working on being a little more inconspicuous" he said as he tussled Ven's hair and helped wipe the snow off his eyes. Ven smirked then got out of Terra's way as he drew back out his keyblade and slashed the tree's stem clean through. It fell almost a foot away from Ven who ran to the side out of fear it would hit him. Aqua then drew out her keyblade and pointed it to the tree.

"GATHER!" she yelled out as the tree rose to the sky and Aqua, Terra, and Ven started to walk back to the castle. As they did, Terra began to wander his mind. He was thinking about how most of his life seemed like hard work, not that he minded this menial task, but Just work, work, work ever since he was a kid. All because of him…

**About three years ago…**

Terra was hanging upside down, doing leg ups without his shirt on, his sweat dropping to the floor as he did each rev. Next to him was a tall man with black hair that was about his height maybe a little taller and muscular, very muscular. He was watching Terra do his training while he held a stop watch in his hand. Terra finnaly couldn't take anymore, he reached up for the bar and let himself down with ease. The tall dark haired man had shut his eyes as he shook his head in disappointment.

"You did fifty yesterday in 5 minutes, today it was in 6… you're getting soft…"

"Hey, it's not like I see you doing these useless exercises everyday!" the older man angrily grabbed Terra, who grabbed his arms in response and did a reversal then rammed him on to a couch. "See no reason for me to keep doing this. I'm already strong enough to take care of my own…" Terra gloated as the older man slid his foot over Terra's feet making him fall. Then he grabbed Terra and pinned him on the couch just like he did to him only a couple seconds ago

"Oh yeah, you can totally hold your own against your old man" he said in a sarcastic tone making Terra mad as he tried to push his father off of him. He chuckled as he tightened his grip "Try all you might you're not strong enough" He said mockingly as Terra glared at him, egging him on for a fight which he would've graciously provided for his son. But before WW3 could take place the front door of their house opened, cool air following, and two women entering in with bags in their hands. His dad didn't even loosen a little because of their arrival, in his house this was a usual thing and thought that they would not interfere. What a dumb man

"Oh my…Travis let him go!" one the two said as he looked over to her and rolled his eyes

"This is the only way he's gonna be what I want him to be and that's train, train,** train**!" he said as she rushed over to him and used every ounce of strength she had to pull him off. Out of pity, not for Terra, he let go and watched as she rushed over to Terra and dusted him off.

"Oh my sweet baby, are you ok?"

"Yeah mom I'm fine" Terra said as he gave his mom a hug to soothe her worry. His mother was half a head below Terra's height with long brown hair and cerulean eye's, she really didn't like the idea of what her husband was trying to make their son into but she was powerless to stop him. Travis just hated the way his wife would 'baby' their son like this and slightly growled in his throat as he saw this. Of course being the non-subtle man that he was his wife heard it

"Stop pushing our son already, he's already big enough to carry this house for the rest of his life if he wanted!" she snapped at him as he got irritated by her back talk.

"There is no such thing as big enough when it comes to strength… Terra you go run three laps through the districts now" Terra eyes immediately widen at that command

"But it's cold out, do you honestly think that's a good idea?"

"Why not you did it a couple weeks ago" he retorted as his son grunted then slipped on a jacket and shoes and walked out, better than being with that monster.

Rather than running like his father wanted he just walked through this cold weather, he always took any chance to disobey his father. He never liked the man and in his mind never will. And that thing that he wants him to be… is a pro fighter. Ever since he was three he's been building him up to be that, mostly to carry on his legacy as a fighter. Over the years he had learned a lot of combat styles and built up the quick reflexes for them. Now his father was working him like a machine to get giant bulging muscles like his to complement everything else and turn him into the perfect warrior.

Terra was looking at his breath float off into the cold air as he walked, mostly to try to get his father out of his mind. Then out of the cold he felt something warm touch his back. On instinct he stopped and turned to see what was causing it.

"Shouldn't be at home?" he asked a 12 year old girl in a pink coat with black hair that had a couple pink highlights in it. She blinked her beautiful blue eyes and smiled at him as he smiled back and rubbed his cold hand over the top of her hood.

"I didn't want to listen to dad yell about stupid things. So I'd rather be with you big bro"

" But aren't you cold Des?" he asked her as she hugged his arm and cutely said

"Not when I'm with you" Terra rolled his eyes, out semi disbelief that his sister would say something so cheesy. But still it was sweet so he returned it with grin as they walked down the first district streets.

**Now**

They had carried the tree all the way back to castle

Terra had already set up a stand for it in the master's throne room and let Aqua and Ven start to decorate it, Aqua needing to tell Ven almost every second what to do.

When they were done, the trio took a couple steps back and looked at their accomplishment at hand with a grin of satisfaction. Terra then said what was on all of their minds as they marveled at the sight beheld

"Perfect"


	4. Terra and the hunt for gifts

After the tree was set up their master called out for them to come to his room, they assumed it was just to thank them. When they reached his room their master told them to follow him. they followed him back to the castle entrance, where he did thank them for the tree. Then a second later he drew out his keyblade and dawned on his armor. At first they all questioned him what he was doing before he explained

"I am going to get your families"

"Wait now?" Aqua asked figuring it was kind of soon to do that since he just told them that this morning.

"Yes I sent them their invitations a week ago so that they would be ready…" Their master always 2 steps ahead of them "…Now if you want to while I am out you can go buy presents for each other and your families in a nearby world" he rose his hand up to them and revealed three cards that he then handed to each of his students

"Don't worry about prices just buy what you think each member of your family would like. Now I won't be long my pupils so you better hurry" he said as he waved and walked out his castle and blasted off for Traverse town and Twilight town. Leaving Aqua and Terra with smiles on their faces and Ven just staring at the card, clueless as to what it was

'What's this for anyway? Are we going to play a game or something?' he thought, trying to make what little sense he could out of it

"So where should we go?" Terra asked Aqua who only to a second's thought as to where they should shop

"How about that place where the master took us the first time we rode our gliders. You know the place with all those flowers and the huge fountain" Terra nodded in agreement with a grin, he loved that place

"Radiant garden it is" he said as he and Aqua began to walk out of the castle, while Ven stood there, trying to figure out what kind of game would need a plastic card to play. Terra was the first one out of the castle and Aqua would be the second. But not before she looked behind her to still her blond haired friend still starring at the credit card her master gave him

"Ven, you coming or not?" Aqua asked. bringing Ven back down to earth (or the land of departure, take your pick)

"Sure I am" he said then ran toward his friend and out the door, guess he was actually going to be the second one out. Aqua followed his lead and left the castle. The trio quickly got their armor on and summoned their gliders and left for radiant garden.

They glided through space arriving to the castle town, which was now engulfed in snow. Even though it was winter the town seemed to be very much alive and energetic with kids running around enjoying the snowy terrain and the older one ice skating on the frozen water of the towns fountain,

"Ok we should spilt up" Aqua suggested making Ven raise a eyebrow

"Why?" Aqua looked down at Ven wondering if he was being serious or if he was being his regular jokey self. Well just to make sure she stated what she thought was obvious

"So you're surprised at what you get on Christmas morning" Aqua said as Ven became even more confused.

'I get something on Christmas?' he thought as Terra listened to Aqua's suggestion and walked off into the town to find the gifts he needed and Aqua did the same. Leaving Ven alone with his thoughts

'So if I'm going to get something and Aqua wanted to spilt up, then means she and Terra are looking for something for… me maybe? Then does that mean I have to find them something? But wait…'

"How am I suppose to buy anything!" he yelled/thought out loud as one of his friends was already finding something for his little sister.

Terra walked into a book shop and looked around at the various tomes. He knew his little sister was smart and loved to read so he figured she'd appreciate a new story from a world different from their own, only problem was he didn't know what she would like.

As he looked around he heard a elderly woman's voice from the back of the store. Not really having a idea on what to get his sister he slowly made his way back there, figuring she would at least have a good recommendation for something. As he arrived to the back of the story he found the old woman reading to what seemed to be her granddaughter.

"…and they lived happily ever after" she said as she closed the book. Then just like she was in school she raised her hand because she had a question "Yes sweety?"

"That was really good grandma but how did she know it was him grandma? If she couldn't see his face then how could she tell it was her husband?" the woman chuckled then poked her granddaughter's chest, bopping her back a little.

"That's how she knew Kairi" The little girl was now even more confused

"What do you mean grandma?" even he didn't know the story they were talking about, Terra knew what the grandmother was trying to explain and decided to help her elaborate as he entered from the corner of their eyes

"She means that the girl in the story could just knew it in her heart. Because when someone love's someone enough they can just feel something warm deep down that tells them who is it" Terra said kneeling down halfway to Kairi's height so she would better understand. Kairi looked down at her heart, now realizing another thing that it could do, and smiled at Terra and asked

"Wow really?"

"Yes Kairi, I couldn't have said it better myself." The grandmother said as she stood up from her seat and dusted off her dress "I'm sorry I wasn't at the front counter I was preoccupied with my granddaughter. I am the owner of this shop, is there something I can help you with kind man?"

"Actually yes, I'm trying to look for a book for my kid sister…"

"How old is she?" she asked, to get a clear picture as to what kind of book he's looking for. Terra thought for a couple seconds, doing some quick mental math

"She's about fifteen and she's really smart and I think she loves romantic stories" the owner began to think and so did Kairi as to what would be the perfect book for her. Then she had a idea for one

"Oh I know!" Kairi yelled out as she ran to the back and grabbed four books, which she had a hard time holding in her small hands. She set them on the ground in front of Terra. He knelt down and took a look at them. They were fairly new but had hard leather, or what thought was, covers that gave the illusion of them being old with a symbol on each book, the first being a flame. He grabbed the top one and quickly scanned the tittle and summary. Event by just the little he read he even thought of keeping this to read himself, which only confirmed how he knew that

"Yeah she would love this" he put his hand out for her to shake. Not even attempting to shake his whole hand, she grabbed his index finger and shook it. He giggled at that and so did she.

"I was just telling those stories to her as you entered into the shop" the woman said as Terra picked them up and brought them to the front of the shop. 'No wonder she grabbed theses' he thought. She rang up the price of the series of books and Terra handed her his master's card. As she finished ringing him up, he began to read some more of the first book he glanced through

The elderly woman had to tap Terra out of the book so that he would get his card out to pay for the books

"Sorry… guess your granddaughter is right this is a good book" Terra said embarrassed for getting side tracked. She smiled with a chuckle

"It's one of her favorites, I read her one of them almost everynight" she said as she hugged her granddaughter who clang onto her leg for a hug if her own

"Aw that's sweet"

"Thank you, please come again and have a great day" she said as terra humbly nodded then left. As he walked out he could hear the door open again with tiny footsteps coming out of it. He turned to see it's souce, it was Kairi who waved her hand and proclaimed

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" he grinned and waved back as he returned with

"Merry Christmas to you too!" he said as he continued to walk off on the search for more gifts, while ran off somewhere else probably to play.

On his venturing through town he had found a random clothes store and grabbed a big shirt for his dad, not really caring what to get for his father. Then he stopped by a jewelry shop and pointed out a sapphire necklace for his mother, the color of the sapphires reminded him of his mother's eyes and would really complement her already beautiful face. Then finally he walked into a electronics store and bought Ven a light that had a star pattern on it, he picked it out because he knew Ven loved the night sky. He also saw a cool watch that looked old but had modern features on it. Thinking that he would like it he bought it for his master. Then as he walked out of the story he passed by another jewelry shop with ser of twin bracelets that caught his eyes. He entered the shop and took a better look at them. They both had a interlocking design on them that look celtic with the only real difference between the 2 being a diamond on one of them and a adamantine mineral on the other. As he looked the shop keep walked over to Terra, ready to make her sale

"You have good tastes, those are destiny bracelets. It connects two people together even if they're worlds apart… so they say" he thought this would be a good present for Aqua and her little sister. As he looked at them he noticed something written on the back that said

'_I'll always be with you' _he grinned then looked to the shop keep

"I'll take them" the keep grabbed them from his hands and took them to the register to be put in a box then rehanded to him. He put them in his bag and then left the store to armor up and zoom back to the castle.

He couldn't wait to see everyone's faces on Christmas because he felt like he actually put a lot of thought into his gifts, minus his father's.


	5. Boo!

**Meanwhile with Aqua**

She was walking down a street looking at all the various shops that lined up next to it. She had decided to look for gifts for her master and friends first then her family. First up was Terra's gift and what better place to look than at a weapons shop. Even thought she wasn't going to but him a actual weapon maybe they'd have something cool he could use like some kind of body armor. She looked through a window and found a pair of fingerless gloves with some padding on them like they were made for a fighter. Now if that didn't scream Terra then what would?

As She looked at them she didn't even notice that someone was sneaking up on her

"BOO!"

"Whoa!" she accidently fell on to the window as she heard a young boy laugh. She gritted her teeth and growled at him as she turned around to see a red haired boy laughing himself into a coma.

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself" he retorted bacl

"What's your problem I was just looking"

"Well I'm just trying to have some f…." then a blue haired boy with yellow eyes came up from behind and smacked him on the back of his head.

"Ow!"

"I told you not to…." He said then looked straight at Aqua "….I apologize for my friend, he can be kind of an idiot at times" he said as Aqua rubbed her head because that's the main area that got hit from the kid's spook.

"I would appreciate it if he told me that himself" she said angrily as the blue haired boy grabbed his friend and shifted him toward Aqua.

"Some friend you are Isa" Isa just rolled his eyes as he tightened his grip, hurting him, commanding him to say it

"Just say you're sorry Lea" Lea gritted his teeth from the pain as he looked up at Aqua and sincerely and forcefully said

"Sorry" Aqua had a semi mad expression on her face and would've possibly said 'you better be' but that would be against her nature. She instead took a deep breath calmed her face and mind

"Apology accepted" she said regularly then parted the weapon store. When she entered she began to look around for the shopkeeper, already knowing what she wanted. Then Lea and Isa walked in

"Uh do you need something?" Lea asked

"Yeah I need the shopkeeper" she asked as Lea got behind the counter and rested his hands on his face and his elbows on the counter.

"Well you're looking at the second in command, how can I help you?"

"Wait you own this store?" she asked not believing a teenager could own or manage a business.

"No, my dad owns it, but I help. So, what would you like?" Aqua was a little skeptical that he could help her at all, but pointed to the pair of gloves in the window.

"Uh those, I want those gloves in the window" Isa walked over to the window picked up the gloves and walked them over to Lea who examined them.

"Alright armored fighting gloves, that's gonna set you back 2500 munny" Aqua reached into her pocket and presented the credit card her master had given her. Lea scanned it then gave it back to her

"Hey, you want a cool box for that gift? It'll be on the house"

"Um no thanks" Aqua said, never really wanting to take more then she needed.

"No you gotta see it, stay right here" Lea said as he ran to the back of the store and could be heard shuffling through things to find this so called 'cool' box. Aqua didn't leave yet because she knew that would be rude of her. So she just waited at the counter for him looking over at Isa.

"Is your friend always like this?" she asked as he answered with a shrug then repositioned himself to lean on the counter.

"Only when he's around girls" Aqua laughed a little after hearing that. She could tell from what Isa said that Lea had a crush on her or at least liked the way she looked. She even thought since he was still a kid that that little prank was just a excuse to get her to talk to him. If so then maybe shouldn't have been mean to him

Lea rushed out with a wooden box with oriental cravings on the side and a tiny gem at the top of it.

"Here you are, the special box free of charge" he said as he handed it to her. Truth is he was only giving it to her to say he was sorry for earlier. She took it and then looked it over, she had to admit it did look pretty cool.

"Why thank you" Lea did a short chuckle at the compliment

"No problem" then Aqua had a idea on how to thank him and apologize for earlier to. She leaned in toward the side of Lea's face and kissed his cheek. Lea felt his heart skip a beat and his eyes go wide as Aqua waved goodbye to him then left. Lea was left stunned after that tiny kiss. Isa looked at him curiously and waved his hand in front of his face to try and get a reaction out of him

"Hello earth to Lea you still in there?" he said as he saw Lea fall backwards onto the ground with a small grin on his face. Isa looked at Lea from over the counter and saw that he probably not going to get up anytime soon. Instead of helping him he started laughing hysterically at the stupid look on Lea's face.

Aqua kept on the hunt for gifts, currently she was focusing on Ven who she was considering buying a snowball gun. When she first saw it the thought that crossed her mind was

'This can't possibly work' then she saw a little boy run out of the store with one of them and put some snow in it. Then a man with long blonde hair came running out of the store

"IENZO GIVE THAT BACK RIGHT….!" Before he could finish the kid aimed the gun and fired. A line of three snowballs quickly rushed out of the toy and hit him in the face causing him to lose his balance and fell flat onto his butt. After a second to take in the humility and pain, he quickly wiped the snow off his face and looked at boy enraged

"IENZO YOU GIVE THAT TOY TO ME THIS INSTANT!" the boy just stuck out his tongue and ran off with the gun in hand.

"GrrrrraaahhhHHHHHHH!" the man quickly got up and rushed after the boy, mad as hell.

Aqua laughed a little at his misfourtune then looked at the toy she had bought, she could already picture Terra chasing Ven for shooting him with it. She quickly walked over to the front of the store and found one of the cashiers on duty

"One of these please" she said as she handed him the card which he took and swipe then rehanded her the toy but in a bag.

"Have a nice day"

"I will, thank you" she said as she walked out of the shop and back onto the market street. Next she walked into a dress store to look for something for her mother and sister. As she looked through the various shirts, pants, and dresses she couldn't find anything that popped out to her and said that her sister or mother would like. Then when she was about to leave the shop keep came up to her and asked

"Need any help?"

"Actually yes, I'm trying to find something for my little sister and my mom…"

"Say no more I know just what you need" she said in a annoyingly happy tone. She brought Aqua to the coat section and knellt down to grab something out of a hidden drawer. What she pulled out was a sweat jacket that was light blue on the torso and checkerboard black and white on the sleeves. The strings along the hood were earbuds and next to the right shoulder was a cool tribal heart. There was only one thing Aqua could say

"Woah that's cool"

"I had to hide this one because they were so popular"

"I can see why" Aqua said still looking at it, this just screamed perfect for her sister. The shop keep could tell she wanted it so she hung it from her arm and walked to another place in the shop. Aqua followed her to the cash register as the shop keep put the jacket on the counter then walked over to a little to a glass case. Aqua followed and looked in the case and saw all the sparkling gems and precious metals that made up the contents within it. The shop keep pointed over to the ear rings

"There's a deal with that jacket, it's worth 3000 money. But if you buy it you get a free pair of ear rings, perhaps something for your mother." She suggested as Aqua looked at the ear rings, sure 3000 money was a lot for one jacket. But, she could kill two birds with one stone if she did this. She pointed to a pair of ear rings with star cut gems, the keep took them out of the case and brought them to the counter. Before she even rang up the price, Aqua drew out her card and had it out in front of her. She swiped it like the others did before and put her gifts in a bag. Aqua then waved good bye and left.

She was finished with her Christmas shopping, she thought that for her master and Terra's family she'd make them breakfast on Christmas morning. She armored up and made sure her bags were securely held onto her. As she was about to leave something hit her leg, nothing big but not too small to go unnoticed. She inspected what it was and saw a small cube with one brightly colored side over the other black ones on it. She picked it up and wondered what it was for a second, but in the end just shrugged and put it in her bag then zipped off. But just before she left she could swear she heard someone yelling out 'wait'. But it could've just been her mind playing tricks on her

As she zoomed through space she saw a bright light at the side of her. Upon further inspection she saw it was master Eraqus, and tied to his glider was a little mobile carrier that he had made with some girl waving in the window. She quickly moved toward her master and the carrier and flashed the peace sign to the girl and followed her master back to the castle.


	6. My hero

**I don't think I did a good job on my Aqua part of the story, so I hope my Ven part will make up for it R&R**

Ven quickly looked back and forth at his quickly parting friends, each running in the opposite direction of the other.

Once again Ven was left alone with only the card he was given in his hand and the only idea of what he should be doing being 'get gifts'

'How the heck am I suppose to that? I don't even have any money' he thought as he started to walk around the town, looking in the various windows that made up the main street stores. He had seen a couple of things that he was sure Terra and Aqua would like, wishing he could actually buy them.

As he looked he heard someone giggling with tiny footsteps alongside it. He could tell that it was coming toward him so out of curiosity he looked over his shoulder to see a small girl with short red hair running toward him with a big bag in her hand. He grinned at her because of the big smile that was across her face. He didn't know why but every time someone smiled he just had to grin, maybe it was him being unconsciously polite.

As she ran pass him, Ven noticed something coming toward her. It was a little boy, about her age maybe year older, with a weird gun thing in his hands and aiming it… at her? A swooshing noise went through the air as something went flying toward the innocent girl. Ven quickly panicked and started to run after the girl to try and block the shot.

But he wasn't going to make, so in a last ditch effort he yelled out

"WATCH OUT!" the girl quickly tried to turn around, trying to stay steady on the slippery street. She freaked out when she saw the projectile and tried to shield herself. That did little to no good as the shot hit her and actually pushed her back hard onto the ground. Ven's heart sank a little as he rushed over to her and looked her over

"Hey, HEY wake up!" he said as he shook her while the little boy snickered behind him. Upon further investigation Ven found out that she was hit with a snow ball. But that didn't make sense to him since a regular snowball wouldn't make a person lose their balance so easily. Then he found the reason for that on the ground where she had fallen. Ice, right next to the snow that made up the snow ball were noticeable chunks of ice. Ven began to freak as he looked again on the little girl to make sure she was really hurt. The little boy didn't even attempt to walk over to his victim. He just began to walk away and would have done it successfully, if it wasn't for someone quickly grabbing onto his arm and tightly. He quickly looked over his shoulder, and saw a man with long blond hair and green eyes that were on fire with rage as the dragon breath around his nose quickly flailed out. His happy mood immediately was destroyed as the man yelled at him

"OK THAT'S IT, YOUR NOT GETTING ANY TOYS FOR CHRISTMAS. AND I'M GOING TO TAKE THIS LITTLE NUISENCE BACK TO THE STORE WHERE YOU FOUND IT!" then he quickly grabbed the gun making the little boy try to jump for it, but was too small to even get half way toward the toy. When he finally gave up he stuck out his tongue and closed his eyes to scold the man. Beyond angry at this point the blonde haired man was about to drag the boy home when heard someone talking franticly in a panicky tone. He turned around to its source to find a boy with blond spiked up hair next to a little girl who looked knocked out with some snow on her forehead.

"COME ON OPEN YOUR EYES!" the man was smart and saw where the young boy had stood and did some mental imaging and drew a conclusion. He shot her with his snowball gun and actually hurt her. He glared down at the boy

"Oh good job Ienzo" he said sarcastically then dragged him over to the girl, he resisting every step of the way.

He knelt down to the girl and looked her over. He wasn't a medical student but from the fact that her chest was still rising indicated that her heart was still circulating blood meaning she was still alive. Not noticing him from the beginning, Ven looked up at the man with blond hair and asked

"Uh…. Can I help you?"

"No, but I can help you. There's a small infirmary building right down the street, if you follow me and take the girl with you she should be alright" Ven quickly picked up the girl and followed the man down the street.

The whole time Ienzo kept trying to get the toy gun from him, of course just failing over and over again. When they were in front of the building the older man pointed his hand toward the appropriate building.

"And here it is, and may I deeply apologize for my young friend's actions" he said giving Ienzo a nudge to say 'sorry' but failed at getting him to do that. Ven shook his head and said

"Thank you, and you may want to keep a closer eye on him Mr.….?" the man felt embarrassed for not telling the young man his name

"Oh my apologies, I am Even and this trouble maker is Ienzo. I do apologize even further because we must be on our way, tell the doctor that any expenses made through your little sister's care shall be charged to his lordship" he said then turned around and dragged Ienzo back to the castle.

"Wait… she's not my sister" Ven said a bit to late as the man walked off with the little troublemaker. He just shrugged it off with the little girl in his arms and walked into the building.

In the building there was a desk with a young dark brown haired girl behind it. Behind her was six beds, three on each side of the building with clipboards in front of them and at the very end of the building was a counter with various medical items like syringes and bottles of medicine. The girl glanced up at Ven and immediately dawned a shocked look when she saw the little girl in his arms

"Kairi!" she got up and quickly sprinted around the desk and looked at her in Ven's arms. She looked at Ven with a raised eyebrow and a still semi apparent look of shock on her face

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ventus, but call me Ven for short. She got hurt by some boy who shot her with a snow ball that had ice in it. I tried to wake her up but I couldn't get any response from her" he explained as the girl took Kairi from him and brought her to one of the vacant beds. She quickly went to the back of the building and looked through some cabinets for something.

Ven felt compelled to stay next to this little girl and could see that her eyes were twitching and heard her make tiny noises in her throat. Then her mouth opened and she faintly whispered

"Sora"

"Huh?" Ven asked to himself as the girl came back with a dish of water and a clear bottle with some kind of deluded clear rocks. Ven curiously watched as she sprinkled the rocks on the plate of water while the smell of something strong and rancid filled the air. He quickly covered his noise and squinted his eyes to keep them from tearing

"EWWWWW what is that?" Ven asked in a nasaly voice.

"Smelling salts you big baby" she said as she brought it towards Kairi's noise and wafted it around. Her eyes began to twitch even more as a look of disgust went across her face till finally she shot up and covered her noise like Ven

"Eeeewwwwwwwwww!" she said aloud as the girl silently giggled then put something over the plate to seal in the stench. She quickly grabbed onto Kairi and hugged her

"Thank goodness you're alright" Kairi was very confused, she didn't know where she was or who the boy next to her was or why he looked relieved.

"Uh…. Teal how did I get here?" she asked her friend who loosened her grip around Kairi and looked into her cute blue sparkling eyes. Ven raised two of his fingers to interject

"Uh I can explain that" Kairi looked over to Ven with curiosity In her eyes. Ven spent the next couple of minutes explaining how Kairi got to the infirmary and how she was hit on the head by Ienzo, who she knew and thought of this as him being typical.

"….and that's how you're here" he finished. Then Teal got up from her bed and walked over to Ven and patted him on the shoulder

"Well thank you very much for making sure my little friend was safe" she said as she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek to thank him. Ven blushed to a berry red color, to which Kairi giggled at. Teal walked over to the desk and went for the phone to tell Kairi's grandmother where she was. Kairi looked at Ventus with her big cute eyes, making Ven grin and ask

"What'cha looking at?" Kairi grinned then blinked her eyes

"My hero"


	7. Bye Ventus

**R&R**

Ven stayed there next to Kair for awhile, just talking with her till her grandmother would come. Though she did most of the talking while Ven just sat next to her and listened…and listened…and listened. As rude as it might be Ven was actually considering falling asleep and the expression on his face was screaming that as loud as it could.

But Kairi didn't see it, being that she was a little kid, so just keep talking about her short life, her grandmother, and the stories she's read. Ven's head was slowly leaning forward with his eyes following his lead. For a brief second he was completely asleep, until someone stormed in, slamming the door open, as they yelled out

"WHERE IS SHE?" a elderly woman said in a panicked tone making Ven immediately jump up and shake his head

"TERRA I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO IT!" Ven yelled out as he curled into a protective ball. Everyone stared at him like he was crazy. When he realized that this wasn't the castle he slowly shifted out of his ball pose then looked around at all the people starring at him. His face was beat red with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head and chuckled

"Who is that?" the old woman asked as she walked toward him and found the girl she was looking for behind him, wide awake and smiling at her.

"He's Ventus, he brought Kairi hear when she got hurt" Teal said as the old lady immediately shifted her view from Kairi to Ventus who just waved like an idiot. That caused the woman to chuckle a little while she showed a small smile of gratitude

"Thank you for helping my granddaughter Ventus" she said in happy sincere voice as Ventus grinned

"It was nothing really; I just did what any good person would've done". He said as he slumped back and rested the back of his head on his hands. The pose that Ventus was making made Kairi giggle a little as her grandmother sat down at the foot of her bed and looked at her closely to see if she was completely ok. Kairi looked over to her grandmother and noticed she was starring at her, so Kairi got close to her grandmother in responce and starred into her eyes thinking it was a starring contest. It only took a couple seconds before her grandmother caught and toke on her challenge.

Ven tilted his head as he tried to figure out what they were doing, after about 2 minutes of starring Ventus got bored and started walking behind Kairi's grandmother making sure she didn't assume anything. To be honest it wasn't like she was going to move her eyes away from her granddaughter anyways, but Ven snuck behind her anyway. He was holding back a chuckle as he slowly appeared behind her into to Kairi's view, which she didn't break to long from grandma. Then he put his index fingers in his mouth and stretched it out real wide and stuck out his tongue, making Kairi look at him weirdly as he went

"La lalalaala" Ventus mumbled through his mouth as he wiggled his tongue out, Kairi couldn't help but laugh at Ven uncontrollably. A grin went across her grandma's face as two seconds into her laughter she stopped then glared at Ven, realizing she had lost

"Hey!" she said in a angry mixed with disappointed tone. Ven was just laughing as he said

"I got you!" he said as Kairi put on a playfull evil grin on her face and jumped off her bed into Ven causing him to fall over onto the floor. He began to playfully wrestle with her as she fought back. What he didn't notice when he fell was that the card that his master gave him fell out of his pocket and slid over toward Teal. When he let her pin him, Kairi began to torture him in the best way a 4 year could think of.

"TICKLE FIGHT!" she began to franticly poke her fingers all around Ventus but mostly his sides as he began to uncontrollably laugh and squirm around to try and escape her torture, having flash backs to times Aqua did this to him.

Teal began to laugh as she watched Ven being tortured. Then she noticed something flip off her foot when she moved a little in her seat. She looked to the ground then leaned in to investigate it. What she found was a plastic card that she turned over and nearly jumped out of her seat when she saw it, it was a silver credit card with Ventus's name on it. She was so shocked because she had only heard of these cards, you could only have them if you were so rich that wasn't even funny.

Ven was still being tortured as he started to retaliate back by tickling her.

"NO STOP IT hahahha…" Kairi yelled out as she fell into a flurry of tickling fingers. Teal quickly looked up from the card toward Ventus

'How could he be rich enough to have this?' she thought, questioning it because she assumed most rich people were snobbish and intelligent. But Ven to her wasn't any of those things, he was pretty humble and nice. While Ven was in the middle of his tickle fight, losing to Kairi, she just asked him flat out

"Hey Ven!" she said as she waved the card back in forth in the air "is this yours?" she asked as Ven looked up at it and shook his head.

"Yeah it is…" he said as he got Kairi off him then walked over to Teal and took it. "…My master gave me this and told me to buy gifts for my friends. But to be honest I have no idea why he didn't give me any money and only gave me this" well that answered Teals question as to how he got that. She also was trying to hold back a chuckle, he had to be pretty dim if he didn't know how to use a credit card or even not know what one is. She took a short breath to push back her laughter then explained

"Ok… if you want to get gifts for your friends you might want to do that right now because all shops are closing" she said while pointing outside toward the setting sun. Ven gasped and was ready to freak out before Teal put her hand to tell him to hold his horses

"Now listen, all you have to do is just take your card into the shops, find something for your friends, then show the shop keep your card then you'll be able to take those things home with you" Ven raised a eyebrow as he looked at the card

"That's it?" he asked feeling stupid that he didn't figure that out sooner. Teal just nodded her head slowly so he could understand clearly. Mentally Ven was slapping himself back and forth across the face, till Teal leaned up and poked him.

"You better run if you want to get anything good" Ven quickly shook out of his mental hysteria and nodded quickly. He ran toward the door and before he left, quickly turned around and waved good bye to the three

"It was very nice to meet you all" he said happily as Teal and Kairi's grandma smiled to say bye. Kairi actually waved back with a big grin on her face, Ven grinned back and nodded to say bye to them one last time then stormed out the place. After he left Kairi realized something, Ven reminded her of someone she had met in her dreams. A young boy about her age with brown spiky hair and sea blue eyes. She kept a small grin for awhile after he left and thought one thing

'Bye Sora'

Ven was rushing around town, zipping in one shop to another. Without any thought he simply grabbed the first thing he saw in a store and ran to the next. For Terra he got some kind of handheld gadget that looked cool, for Aqua he wasn't completely sure what he got her and didn't waste any time checking, and lastly for the guests they were expecting he grabbed some things from a fireworks shop in town to give them a cool show on Christmas day and possibly new years if they were staying that long.

It was nearly the end of the day as the last glimpses of light shimmered off the horizon, the shops were all starting to close up and shut off their lights as one blond haired boy rushed through the streets toward the only store that didn't show any signs of closing as soon as the others. He quickly zoomed into the shop and stopped to try and catch his breath as he took in air relentlessly. A guy near the front of the store was starring at Ven as he caught his breath.

"Woah take it easy man" he said trying to urge him not to suck in so much air at once. Ven took one last big breath to calm himself down then looked around the shop, all around him was just couches and big comfy chairs. He thought that it was kinda stupid that he ran in here, there was no way he could drag a couch or a chair back to the castle and even if he got it there he couldn't hide it in his small room. Though he did see this one black chair that had the word customizable stickered on it. The shop keep looked over at the chair with a grin on his face then put his arm on Ven's shoulders and pointed towards the chair he was eyeballing.

"Yeah that's a 'beaut right there, she's top of line with massaging mechanisms and a mini fridge on the side with a built in 12 inch satellite tv on the right arm rest" what the keep said did sound cool but it also sounded heavy. Then Ven took his arm off his shoulders then started heading for the door

"Sorry, but I don't think I can lift that all the way home"

"Wa-wa-wait wait!" he said making him stop as he walked over to the chair and pressed a button next to the mini fridge. Then in a puff of smoke it shrunk down to the size of a small black cube with a blue square on top of it. Ven quickly ran over and picked up the cube, it was very light weight and easy to carry. He couldn't wrap his mind around how it did that as the shop keep had a big grin across his face from his now recent sale. Ven quickly handed him the card and bought the chair then stormed out the door with it in his hand.

He looked to the sky and brought his hand up and was about to slam it on his left shoulder to summon his armor. But due to him not paying attention to where he was going he slipped his foot in a hole and fell to the ground. Causing him to release his grip on the cube in his hand, causing it to roll forward.

He lay there for about fifteen seconds to accept the pain he had just recieved then slowly picked himself up. When he was half way up he saw a familiar person in armor picking up the cube.

"Aqua?" he said to himself as she summoned her keyblade glider. Ven quickly got on his feet and reached out his hand

"WAIT AQUA!" he yelled out but she didn't hear him as she zoomed off into space. Ven stood there for five seconds looking at her fly off before he slammed his hand on his left shoulder summoning his armor and glider. He quickly hoped on and zoomed off, trying to catch up to Aqua.

Now all the key pieces were either at the castle or heading to it. Seems like one interesting Christmas will soon be going on


	8. haterd of the cold

**Meanwhile at the land of departure**

Terra was the first to arrive home as he flew down to the castle with bags in his arms. As he landed his armor disappeared in a flash of light as his glider turned back into his keyblade and dissolved back into him. He walked forward toward the doors of the castle and pushed them open letting in some snow on accident. He quickly closed them then shivered as he began to take his jacket off

"What the…?" he said through chatters as he noticed he could see his breath. He looked next to door at a white box that had a little panel on it. It read the time and had the number 45 on it with a little circle above it. His teeth still chattering, he opened the panel and was greeted by a message from his master

'He who touches the thermostat will feel my ultimate wrath…. That means you Terra' he put his finger to a button on the panel and rapidly started pressing it, completely ignoring his masters warning. As he did the number began to rise with each press. Twenty seven, forty three, seventy eight, then he finally stopped at eighty five as he pressed another button that made the screen say hold eighty five. The temperature slowly crawled up as Terra crossed his arms and gently tapped one of his feet. He waited patiently for the heat to kick in. But after just 5 minutes it only had risen only a couple of degrees. He gritted his teeth and brought out one of his fists

"GOD DAMNIT WORK FASTER!" he yelled out as he lunged his fist foreword. A chill then went through his whole body causing him to quickly wrap up again. He quickly recrossed his arms as he shivered from the cold.

"Damn heater" he said as he walked away from it to go his room. Due to the cold he could only walk slowly to his room wishing he could walk faster, but didn't so he could conserve his body heat. When he got to his door he slowly reached out his hand which was still semi crossed with his other arm and tried to open the door. But the instant he put his hand on the knob he cringed, jumped back, dropped his bags, then started rubbing on his hand vigorously.

'God damn cold knob!' he thought angrily to himself as he drew out his keyblade and aimed it at his door.

"FIRE!" a ball of flames erupted out of the tip of his blade that burned off the knob and scorched some of the door. He proceeded to walk into his room like nothing had happened and jumped into his bed, wrapping himself in his covers still shivering a little from the cold.

He hated feeling cold, it reminded him to much of his father and the way he treated him. As he shifted around in his cold bed, struggling to get comfortable, all the thoughts in his head were of his father. That's all that rested on his mind until his eyes shut.

**Flashback about 3 years ago**

Terra could feel the chill of his hometown slap him on the face. Luckly he had his sister holding onto him, keeping him warm and he keeping her warm as well. He was just walking around town when he saw a lit sign hanging above a cafe. He licked his lips once, thinking about a nice warm hot chocolate as he quickly looked down to her and asked.

"Hot chocolate?" she looked to him with a warm smile and a nod as they walked over to the café. He held the door open for her as she walked inside then he followed.

It was warm in the shop, a pleasant change from the breeze outside. His sister took no wait and quickly ran over to the counter and ordered for her and her brother. As the man behind the counter started making their warm drinks Terra started wrustling around in his pockets trying to find his wallet. He found it just as the man put the two steaming drinks with whipped cream and chocolate shavings on the top onto the counter.

"Ok little missy and svelte gentlemen, that's gonna set you back about 75 munny" just as the little girl was about to pull some munny out of her pocket Terra put his down on the counter first.

"I got this Des" he said to his little sister, referring her to by her nickname. Her full name was Destiny, his mother was the one who named him and his sister. Their mother was very creative and loving; when they were born she knew that she wanted their names to be unique so that's why their names were what they were because you don't hear those names often. In Terra's case you don't always here a boy being named that. Both Terra and Des preferred their mother over their father because she actually expressed her love instead of just not showing any like him.

Des quickly grabbed her hot chocolate and took a big sip. Terra snickered as he picked his up and blew on it before he took a sip, lessening the chance of getting burned un like his sister

"Have a nice night"

"We will thanks" Terra said to the man as he walked out with his sister close by him. They loved drinking their hot chocolate outside in the cold because you could see more steam coming off it that way. Plus there was something else that made it fun to drink outside. Terra finished off a big sip then quickly kneeled down to his sister's face and blew a lot of the hot steam into her face.

"Nyeh!" she squealed out from the sudden rush of heat as she started to wipe off the Terra air as he drank some more of his hot drink with a sinister grin on his face. Des pouted and glared at her brother as she took a big gulp of hers and blew alot of steam in Terra's face. Terra grinned as the steam rushed to his face, he preferred being hot than cold so this was like a shot of joy to him. As Des stopped blowing Terra looked down to her with a smug look on his face to tell her 'didn't work like you hoped'. Des kept glaring at him while he looked all playfully smug, then his smug look stopped as locks of his hair started falling in front of his eyes.

"What the…?" he asked as he furiously tried to get his hair back to the way he liked it. Des looked up to her struggling brother and began to laugh. She knew Terra loved the heat so aimed for the one thing she knew couldn't stand the steam. Terra was getting aggravated as he kept trying to make his hair stand, but without the gel that he used every morning it was useless to even try. He put his hands down in defeat as he let his hair fall to his eyes while Des calmed down to a chuckle.

"You think you're funny huh?" he asked sarcastically as Des shook her head with a smile on her face. Terra saw her doing this so grabbed her and started giving her a noogie. She sneered and forcefully closed her eyes as her brother kept rapidly rubbing his fist on Des's head

"Well I think this is funny!" He said as a funny smile went across Des's face

"Come on stop! It tickles" she said as she chuckled a little while her brother continued. That's why Terra didn't feel any remorse for this, she always said it tickled whenever he did this. So he kept at it, not even noticing the footsteps that echoed behind them.

"Hey" a deep manish voice said as Terra halted his fist. The sounds of footsteps kept echoing behind them as Terra whispered into Des's ear

"Stay behind me" she quickly nodded as Terra gave her his drink then turned to face 4 thug looking men.

"What can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked nonchalantly. The man in front of the other three glared at Terra knowing he was trying to be smart with them.

"Cut the crap, give us all the stuff in your pockets and you won't get hurt. And don't think we'd think twice about hurting kids like you" Terra wasn't one to run from a fight, in fact he'd probably try to kick their butts right now. But with his little sister behind him and relying on him to get her out of this safe he couldn't risk a fight with these guys. He reached in his pocket slowly then threw his wallet and some change at them. The big man kneeled down and picked up the wallet and opened it up and grinned at the amount of money he had with him

"Thank you for your patronage" he said as his hand waved out the wallet to piss Terra off. He turned around and waved the others guys to go with him, seeing no much more of a job here. Terra was surprised that it was really that simple, usually they ask for more, but he just shook it off and slowly turned around before

"Hey look at that pretty little thing back there" Terra quickly looked back at the gang of thugs to isolate who said that. It was a semi built young guy that only looked like 2 years older than Des. The big guy who had Terra's wallet shook his head as he chuckled and slowly turned back around

"Sorry short round you're not getting any chica today, plus I told you when we don't steal twice from the same guys…" he started before 'short round' said

"Wait she's the daughter of that rich fighter… what's his name?... um…." he said as he scratched his head and thought. Terra gasped as the kid thought then quickly turned around and grabbed his sister

"LOVE TO STAY GOTTA RUN!" he yelled out as the kid took his hand off his head in realization

"TRAVIS THE TERROR!" the other guys went wide eyed in amazement. Then the big guy signaled the other two to rush up and get the two siblings. Terra tried to run faster when he heard his father's fighter name as Des clinged onto him. But the two thugs were just as built as Terra and caught up to him in a matter of seconds and tripped him. Before he hit the ground he quickly spun so he could land on his back and not on his sister. He landed hard on the ground and sneered out in pain as he kept his arms wrapped around his sister. Then those two goons kept heading toward him, he tried to get up but when he placed one of his hands in a position to try and get up it was immediately stomped on by one of the two thugs that tripped him. As he screamed out in pain a clapping sound echoed toward him.

"Beautiful, now take that little chica away from her boyfriend" he said as he pointed to Des, not knowing the fact that Travis the terror had a son along with a daughter. As one of thugs tried yanking Des away from Terra, he tried hard to resiliently hold onto her with his only arm causing the thug to get mad.

"Al! Crunch up his hand" he yelled to the guy parallel to him who started rubbing his foot hard on Terra's hand causing him to cringe with pain. He didn't even notice his waning grip till he felt his sister finally get yanked away from him. He tried to reach out for her but his arm was immediately brought back down to the ground when the thug stomped his foot on it causing Terra to scream out in pain yet again

"TERRA!" Des yelled out before the thug pushed her over to the guy who knew her and started to put his hands all over her while still holding her

"Come on shorty you can play with her back at the hideout, bet'cha we can get a big ransom for this little chicky" he said as the short guy stopped getting frisky and put a hand over her mouth all while having a dirty look in his eyes.

"Boss what should we do with the big guy on the ground?" he said as he pointed to Terra. The boss thug just shook his hand around as he started walking back to their hideout with the short guy

"Have some fun" two giant evil grins went across their faces as they reached to the ground and picked up Terra and pinned him against a wall then started punching him till he would black, blue, and red all over the ground. Des couldn't see Terra being beaten to a pulp by the two thugs but she could hear every smack, hit, and kick that touched her brother. Terra could only bear so much, even though he was being trained to fight he had no idea on how to deal with so much pain at once. Des kept trying to fight her way out of the thug's arms but was over powered by him at every attempt. So after the tenth time she tried, she just decided to bite down on his hand. He screamed out in pain as he released his grip and watched Des run back to try and help Terra

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she yelled out at the thugs ready to help her brother. That was before she felt something hit her leg and caused her to trip and fall onto the frosty ground below.

Before she could even attempt to get up she felt the force of something large drive into her back. The two thugs stop beating Terra who was on the verge of fainting and looked over to Des with their boss's foot dug deep into her back.

"If you're gonna cause this much trouble then maybe I'll just make you…" he said as he reached into his coat and grabbed something metal and gray that made clicking noise as he pointed it down on her

"…Damaged goods"


	9. The reunion

**I want to personally thank ****VaynexArabella4ever****for all the positive feedback. It's people like that, that make me want to work faster on the next chapter of stories (HINT) so anyway thank and I hope all you enjoy the upcoming chapters.**

Terra violently woke up violently, clenching onto his chest. His heart was racing because of that memory/dream, the image of that thug holding a gun over his sister kept flashing over and over in his head. He tried to shake it off but it just kept flashing.

"Ugh…" he sighed as he took a deep breath and brushed his fingers through his hair. When his heart had slowed to its regular pulse, he looked over to a photo next to his bed and picked it up

"Mom… Destiny…" he said to himself as he smiled. The picture was of him, his mother, and sister during the summer. It was a warm memory he had because his father wasn't there to ruin it.

Just as he began to get lost in another memory he heard a knocking sound echo from down the hall. He quickly looked away from the picture and toward his door as that knocking sound came again. He set the picture down and walked out the door and down the hall as the knocking continued more furious than before.

"Terra! Please open the door!" he heard someone say from the front door of the castle. He could clearly make out that the voice belonged to his Master. Not wanting to keep him waiting, he rushed to the door and proceeded to open it.

But just as he placed his hand on the door handle he heard something being shoved to the side with some mumbling something he couldn't make out

"TERRA OPEN THIS DOOR NOW! IT'S GOD DAMN COLD OUT HERE!" he gasped as he heard that voice because he knew very well who it was. His bastard father

"TERRA I'M NOT PLAYING AROUND, GET UP OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND OPEN THIS DOOR!" Terra gritted his teeth as his eyes started to burn with hate and resentment. He really didn't want to open the door and let that man in, but then he heard two big thumps hit the door.

"Terra pleeeassse open the door, it's freezing out here!" he gasped again, knowing that girlish voice anywhere. With that his anger melted away and a smile formed on his face. He opened the door and was immediately trampled by someone in pink. This person wrapped him in a big hug as she kissed him on the cheek while he chuckled and drew back her hood.

"Hey Des" he said as he returned the hug she was giving him.

"Hey what am I, chop liver?" asked a older female voice. Terra looked over his sister's shoulder and saw a woman with long brown hair that glistened with the partial dimming sun light that got through the skies.

"Mom" he said as happily as he could as his mother lent him a hand with a smile. He pulled himself up with her help as he kept one arm around his sister, as soon as he was on his feet his mother joined into the hug. The most prominent thing on Terra's face was a big smile as he held onto his family

"Jezz, you're a bunch of pansies" his father said as he glared at his son. Terra kept enjoying the hug along with his sister and mother, resisting the urge to flip off his father.

**Meanwhile outside **

Aqua had just entered the land of departure and looked down to the castle and saw two things that made a wide smile form behind her helmet. She quickly landed and set down her bags as her armor disappeared. The second it fully disappeared Aqua started running to a girl that was a head shorter than her in a blue coat.

"EVY!" Aqua yelled out as the girl turned around and smiled wide just like her sister.

"AQUA!" she yelled out, beyond excited to see her sister again as she ran toward her. When they finally collided they warped each other in a big hug as Aqua spun around with her in her arms.

"I've missed you so much" Aqua said in a happy voice.

"I missed you a lot" Evy said as her sister set her down and looked at her

"Wow you've really grown in last couple of years. How old are you now like 13?" Aqua asked as she rubbed her hand through her sister hair to which she just shook her head to get her hand off.

"Stop it!" she said as Aqua giggled and did as told. Then she looked over to a woman in a blue cloak with something in a red jacket clinging onto her.

"Mom" she said as she walked over to her with a smiled. Her mother immediately wrapped one arm around her and hugged her

"It's very nice to see you my wonderful little girl" she said as Aqua returned the hug.

"I've missed you so much…" she began then felt something tug at her. She looked in her mother's arms to find a small boy that looked like he was two maybe three years old with a dark blue hair color. She looked at the boy and smiled to say hi to which he just snuggled his face into her mother's shoulder for protection

"Who's little boy is this?" she asked as she tickled his cheek a little, making him giggle. Her mom looked down at the little boy and nudged him a little

"Come on Dante say hello" she said kindly as he slowly raised his head and weakly smiled at Aqua.

"Hi..." he said as Aqua giggled at how cute he was. He seemed so nervous and shy that it seemed hard not to laugh at it. Dante looked at Aqua closely then back to her mother

"Mommy she looks just like you" Aqua eyes went wide after he said that. She quickly looked at her mother who nodded to say 'yes he's your brother'.

"That's because she's your big sister silly" she said as she tickled him a little making him giggle like before. Aqua was beyond happy now as she looked at her new little brother.

'He looks a lot like dad' she thought to herself as she watched him giggle. She snapped out of it then helped lead her mother and sister up to the castle.

"Come on you guys don't want to stay out in the cold do you?" she asked sarcastically as her mother shook her head and walked up the steps. Evy ran up the steps as she looked down to her sister

"Race ya!" she yelled out as she continued to run up the steps. Before Aqua even got one step on the stairway she heard someone yell something out. She quickly looked behind her and saw a burning ball of fire in the sky rushing toward her. She narrowed her eyes to see what it was and saw a small person in armor riding something

"Ven?" she asked herself as her sister stopped and ran back down to her and looked up at him just like her.

"What's that?" Evy asked as they both looked up to the rushing ball of fire.

"AQUA!" they heard someone yell from the skies and noticed something. That ball of fire didn't show any signs of stopping. Aqua quickly gasped then grabbed her sister and ran up the steps to get out of the way as Ven crashed into the courtyard. Both the girls gasped then ran toward the small crater that had formed from Ven's glider.

**Inside the castle**

"What was that?"Terra asked as he ran over to one of the windows next to the big front doors. He looked out to the courtyard and saw a small smoking crater with two girls running toward it.

"What's going on Terra?" asked Des as she walked to his side.

"I don't know…" he said as he grabbed his coat "…but I'm gonna find out". As soon as his jacket was on he bolted out the door, not even noticing his sister rushing out with him. As Terra ran down the steps he could clearly make out Aqua and a little girl that looked just like a smaller version of her surrounding the crater.

"What happened?"Terra asked as he stopped next to the crater.

"Ven crashed!" Terra quickly gasped then climbed into the crater and found Ven in his armor with his keyblade in hand. Terra started to violently shake him

"Ven VEN CAN YOU HEAR ME?" he asked as he pulled Ven's helmet off. When it was completely off his eyes were crossed as he raised his hand

"NO TEACHER I DIDN'T DRINK THE COOKIES!" that was the last thing he said before he passed out. Terra holding back a laugh picked him up along with his keyblade and brought him out of the crater. When he got out Des immediately ran to Terra

"Oh my god is he al…" she started to say before she saw his face.

'Oh wow' she thought to herself as her brother started to run past her. He looked way better than most of the scruffy haired boys in her world.

Aqua quickly joined him as they both brought Ven to their master. Not even noticing that Evy in the same nature as Des was staring at Ven with a hand over her heart not knowing why it was racing so fast.

Well it's safe to say that Christmas is going to be especially interesting for Ven

**Please review….. Seriously I barely know what I'm doing (just joking but please review)…**

**Wow im so freaking sorry about the people who read this on 7/20/11 I was working on one of my other fanfics and uploaded the wrong one for this story so sorry about that**


	10. Power released

**As promised R&R**

Everyone was surrounding Ven in his room. He was slowly breathing as he slept with his two best friends crouched down next to his bed with their master behind them

"What was he doing?" their master asked.

"Maybe he just lost control of his glider, after all he hasn't had that much practice on it" Terra stated out, though he didn't believe that. He knew that Ven was actually was very good on his glider, being that he taught him, and wouldn't have crashed so easily.

"You're probably right Terra..." his master said not really knowing how well of a glider rider Ven was. He knew that possibly one day Terra would have to train a apprentice, so he let him teach Ven how use his glider. Though he wouldn't blame Terra for what happened to Ven, after all a kid doesn't learn to ride a bike without falling down once. Master Eraqus took one last look at Ven before he turned around and began to exit his room "… may one of you please keep a eye on him while I take care of your family's accommodations." Terra and Aqua looked at each other immediately after their master spoke. Aqua nodded to say that she'll keep a eye on Ven, Terra nodded back to say thanks as he pulled himself up and walked out

"Good night and have fun" he said as he walked out the door and towards his room with a yawn echoing through the hall that made Aqua laugh.

When they brought Ven in earlier it was hard to miss the scorch mark on Terra's door. The second his master saw he began to glare at Terra and mouth the words

'Oh not again' Terra snickered at that remembering how a year ago Ven stole his family picture, not knowing what it really meant to him. They ran and ran all around the castle, tearing it up, all while Terra yelled "GIVE THAT BACK". Eventually Terra cornered him near his room, Ven was shaking as he held the picture in one hand and had the other on Terra's door. Terra kept a stern look on his face as he slowly stepped forward and reached out for the picture. Ven in a panic opened Terra's door and ran into his room. Terra was about to rush in but before he even got another step in the door shut abruptly with a couple of clicking sounds indicating Ven locked it. Terra was now beyond mad, not only did he steal his picture but he was in his room too. Out of rage he quickly drew out his keyblade and pointed it to the door to try and unlock it. When he tried a light shimmered at the tip of his blade then quickly went out. He growled because he knew what that meant. Ven had locked his door with his keyblade, and when something is locked with a keyblade only the same key can unlock it. Terra clenched both of his fists in anger as Ven laughed

"HA what'cha gonna do now" Terra growled at the door then raised his keyblade and slammed it through his door which made Ven scream out like a little girl. Terra kicked some of the wood that still clinged onto the supports and stomped into his room and grabbed the picture from Ven, keeping his scary glare up, Ven shook as Terra edge his way down to Ven's level and growled through his teeth

"Get out" Ven quickly scurried out of there as fast as he could. After that day Terra and Ven learned two things, one stealing is wrong and two hand carved mahogany doors cost a lot of munny. When he finally got to his door he was shocked to see someone already in his room. This tall man with a big build turned to look at him with disappointment written all over his face

"What do you want dad?" he asked as his father who continued to look around his room

"So this the 'special training place' he told us to take you away from me?" he asked sarcastically as he slowly walked over to Terra. "Quite honestly I'm not impressed" Terra kept his mouth shut holding back the urge to say 'well why the hell would I go here to impress you'. His father stood in front of him waiting for him to respond, after five minutes of silence he just sighed then pushed Terra out of the way and left his room.

"This place is a dump" he heard his father say as he clenched his fist to hold back his anger. He took a deep breath to try and bury his anger inside him

"Wow…" Terra quickly looked over his shoulder and saw his sister outside his door. "…are you really my brother?" she asked as she walked into his room. Terra gave her a look that said 'are you joking?' before he said

"Of course I am, why would you ask that?"

"Because the Terra I remember wouldn't have done that…" she said as she sat on his bed. "… the Terra I remember would've yelled at dad and told him how wrong he was" Terra knew she was right, a couple of years ago he would've been all over his dad trying to beat him in a fight to make him take back what he said.

"Is it a bad thing that I don't want to be a rage fueled lunatic for the rest of my life like him?" he asked sarcastically as his sister laughed. When they were young that's what he always call his dad, because it was the truth.

"You know Terra you changed… in a good way" she said as he grinned and collapsed onto his bed causing his sister to bounce a little. He desperately wanted to go back to sleep, but at the same he didn't because he didn't want to jump back into that memory he was dreaming of. He let out a sigh as he turned himself around to stare at the ceiling.

"Did you need something Des?" he asked as she nodded

"Yeah your master said there aren't enough rooms for everyone so he told me to ask you if I could stay with you" Terra was actually surprised at what she said. He figured a castle this size would have enough rooms for everyone, but then he remembered a lot of those rooms were filled with training equipment, books, and his master's secret wine cellar.

As Terra was thinking his sister was staring at his face, it was in a resting position of sadness mixed with anger. At first she assumed that was only from seeing his father, but as she looked at him she recognized that expression.

"Terra are you ok?" she asked as he looked over to her.

"Yeah" he said unconvincingly. She knew that expression on his face, it meant he had a nightmare. She only knew that because of the nights where he would wake up screaming, which intern woke her up to. When he did that the first to come was his father who would just yell at him to stop, which he eventually did but with tears still running down his face and sniffles still in his nose. After that, their mother would come in and hold him close till he fully stopped, every once in awhile Des would go in with her to help soothe Terra.

Terra would never say it but he wished someone would've held him after that nightmare he just had. So Des, knowing he was lying, leaned back onto the bed and wrapped her arms around him, like she did years agi. Terra quickly looked to his side and starred at his sister

"Is there a…?"

"You had a nightmare, that's the reason" she said interrupting him. Terra just grinned and let her hug him as he tried to go back to sleep. Des kept hugging him till she heard his breathing steady down to short hushes. She let go of him and took a look at him sleeping with a smile on his face which made her smile too because she knew she had helped her brother. She pulled herself up and looked around his room and was amazed how much it looked just like the one he had back home. It was all there the posters of fights and games, his radio, some drawings she drew for him when she was eight, and all the messy laundry scattered across the floor. As she looked around her eyes were drawn toward a picture he had on his night stand. She picked it up and looked at it, it was taken when she was twelve and she had a big smile on her face and a cupcake in her hand. Her mother and Terra were there with smiles on their faces too, at the edge of the picture there was some writing that could be roughly made out to say 'happy birthday Destiny, love Terra and mom'. She loved that birthday because her brother and mother tried their very best to make it the best day ever for her, which they succeeded. She took a big sigh then set the picture down, her smile faded away as the memories of that year went through her head. Those memories brought a small tear in her eye as she remembered the most horrible night of her life.

The night she almost died

**3 years ago**

"If you're gonna be this much trouble I'll just have to make you…" the sound of a gun cocking back echoed through air as she felt it hover over her."...damaged goods" Des cringed up and prepared for the worst as the thug was halfway through pulling the trigger.

"NOOOOOO!" Terra yelled out in a mixture of anger and sadness. Then a faint glow started to emanate from Terra that made the two thugs who were constraining him cover their eyes.

"What the…?" that was the only two words the two thugs got out before they were thrown forward. One was thrown toward their boss that accidently fired his gun into the air as he fell down. The other was thrown toward the smaller member of their four man four man group who shrieked out in pain when he hit the pavement. Terra was breathing deeply as he clenched his fists. The boss thug furiously hit the man who was on him and yelled out

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU GUYS, GO POUND HIM INTO THE GROUND!" the thug quickly found his way up along with the other one who was on the short runt thug. They quickly bolted toward him with fists held up high. The glow on Terra started to focus itself completely on his right hand where it started to form into a big blade like object. When it finished forming it shimmered one last time then began to fade to reveal a brown, bronze, and steel gray blade that looked like a key. The thugs didn't stop to notice the weapon that had formed in his hands as they started to throw their punches which Terra hit with his new formed blade. They both yelled out in pain, thinking their hands might be broken, and kneeled down to the ground where Terra hit them both hard on the back with his blade. He slowly walked forward, anger burning on his face as he glared at the now shaking boss. He fired his gun rapidly four times at Terra to which he rose his blade and formed a invisible shield that absorbed the impact from the bullets, then he pushed out his hand and a small ball of light came rushing out of him toward the thug and knocked him down. Terra took a deep breath and finished walking to his sister. She shook with fear as she saw her brother glare down at her, then he cringed then put his hand to his head as he fell to his knees.

"Rrgh… what happened?" Terra asked as he looked around then locked his eyes on the blade in his right hand

"What is this thing?" he asked, knowing it wasn't like any sword he'd seen before.

"Terra…" Des asked still slightly scarred of what her brother just did. Terra shook a little then quickly crawled forward toward his sister and looked her over

"You ok?" she nodded then Terra turned around to let his back face her. He quickly patted his back to let her know he wanted to piggy back her back home. She quickly latched onto her brothers back and held on tightly as he rose up. He quickly started running away from the thugs but before he even got pass the point where the two big thugs held him and beat him, a large bang went off and echoed through the streets. Terra cringed up and fell to his knees, a emmense pain began to build in his left leg. His sister looked behind her and saw the boss thug half way up and holding a smoking gun in his hand as he laughed

"Nice one, but you're not getting off that…" before he could finish something blunt hit him in the back of the neck that made him fall face first to the ground to reveal a man in a white robe with a hood that covered his face. He quickly ran over to Des and Terra and raised a blade in his hand that looked a little like the blade Terra had only a minute ago.

"Heal!" he yelled out as a green glow went over Terra and mended the skin around the wound on his leg to seal it up and even made the bullet vanish. Des quickly got off her brother and looked at his face to see both his eyes were shut and cringing in slight pain. She rapidly shook him to try and wake him

"Terra TERRA WAKE UP!" she said frantically as she shook him. Before she tried again, the man in white put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't, we need take him to your home…"

"Who are you?" she asked as the man wrapped his arm around Terra and brought him to his feat

"Eraqus, now please we need to get him home" not really having any options, being that she couldn't lift him up herself, and for the fact that he just saved Terra and herself she trusted him and decided to lead him to her house.

"It's this way come on!" she said as she ran down the streets with him not to far behind with Terra

**Now**

She sighed as she grabbed her stuff outside of Terra's room and started to unpack her pj's. It may have been a little early to sleep, even though the sun had just set and welcomed night, but that trip in really tired her out.

As she got dressed, she thought more of that year. How soon after Terra left them for this training with Eraqus and how her father completely hated the idea. The only reason he was actually here was because of her mother and a little whisky to loosen his grip on Terra.

She remembered how before he left he gave her the longest hug she had ever had. She knew how much Terra would've rather stayed there with her and his mother. But they urged him to go, not only because he could be a hero like Eraqus told them, but because he's be away from 'Travis the terror'. After one last sad goodbye he left and Des felt a sense of pride in her brother, he was finally being what he always wanted to be. Anything that his father didn't try to chart out for him

When she finished getting dressed she looked around Terra's room to find no other comfortable surface to sleep on besides his occupied bed. 'well…' she thought as she scouted Terra over a little and laid down next to him '…better than the ground and he makes such a nice pillow' she joked as she grabbed some of his covers and fell asleep.

"Night Terra"


	11. Good Morning Ven or Would It Be Night?

**Back with Aqua**

Aqua was sitting in a chair next to Ven's bed, waiting for him to wake up while trying to stay awake herself. She let out a yawn as she looked out her window to see the last sliver of sunlight on the horizon which caused the snow on the mountains to twinkle like thousands of stars. It was one of those moments you wished you could take a picture of but at the same you didn't because then it wouldn't be one of a kind anymore.

"Coooolll" Aqua quickly looked behind her and saw Evy with Dante holding onto her hand awing at the setting sun outside the window. Aqua giggled at her little brother's reaction then patted her hip a couple times

"Come here little guy, you can get a better view from here" a big smile went across his face as he ran over to his sister and climbed his way onto her knee to get a better look. Evy broke a small smile when she saw her sister and brother together

'She looks so much like mom when Dante is near her' she thought. But her view slowly shifted from them to the boy sleeping on the bed in front of them. She didn't know why but something about him seemed different than the other boys she had met.

"So Evy how have you been?" Aqua asked which caused Evy to snap out of her little starring session

"Um huh?"

"I said how have you been?"

"I've been alright... you know with all things considered" she said as she sat on the end of Ven's bed. Aqua let out a sigh, she noticed it when her family first arrived but didn't want to say anything about it.

"When did he…?"

"About a month after you left" Evy said not wanting to stay on this subject for very long, her father's death was not one of her favorite subjects of conversation. Aqua let out another sigh as she tried to hold back a tear, but failing causing a tear to fall on her brother and get his attention.

Dante looked back and forth at both his sisters, wondering what they were talking about as Evy dug into her pocket and gave Aqua something.

"What's…?"

"Dad… told me if I ever saw you again to give you that" in Aqua's hand was a stained glass star held together by a metal rim with a leather lace at the top of it. She knew what this was, it was her father's lucky charm that had been passed down from her great grandfather to her grandfather then to her father and now her. She clenched onto it as another tear went down her face, which caused Dante to look up at his sadden sister

"Aqua what's wrong?" Aqua quickly shook her sad face off and wiped away her tears

"Nothing, nothing Dante" she quickly and put a smile. Even though he was young Dante knew that was a lie

"No it's something, you still look sad" Aqua tried to him she was fine but he kept at it. She realized he wasn't going to let this go so decided to do the only thing she could think of to distract him. She quickly pulled up his shirt and patted her fingers all over his belly. Dante erupted into a flurry of laughter

"Hehhhahaeehha s-stop it hahahahheeheaha" Dante tried to say through his laughter as Aqua just ignored him and kept at it.

"Tickle his feet it's his weak point" Evy pointed out. Aqua quickly went for his tiny feet and tickled them furiously, to which Dante laughed even harder. He found it hard to breath and started kicking his feet at his sister.

"Hey don't kick" Aqua said as she continued

"Can't hahahhehehehha breath..." Dante mustered, making Aqua quickly stop and let Dante breath, or more like gasp for air.

"You ok?" Aqua asked as she rubbed his back to soothe him. Dante nodded then looked up and smiled at her to reassure her. For a split second Aqua could swear she saw her father in front of her, but then she faded back into to reality to see her little brother smiling at her, putting a smile on her face as well. Dante yawned shortly after then leaned his head onto Aqua's belly, cuddling up next to her. Evy giggled because of how cute this moment was.

"What?" Aqua asked as she gently stroked the top of Dante's head

"Nothing, it's just that this looks so cute it's funny" Aqua quickly looked down to her little brother who was lightly holding onto her with one arm and sucking his thumb with the other. Aqua had to hold back a laugh, covering her mouth till the moment passed. When it did, Aqua wanted to change the subject to something else. She immediately got a idea on what to change it to, since her sister was starring at it since she came in

"So I see you like Ventus" Aqua said bluntly as her sister blushed and put a shocked look on her face

"WHAT NO I DON'T!" she yelled out as Aqua put a finger over her mouth and shushed her. She quickly pointed to Dante and Ven and whispered

"Their sleeping, keep it down"

"Oh, sorry" she said, embarrassed that she got a little carried away

"It's ok and it's ok to admit you like him" Aqua said as Evy looked down to her side, her blush still on her face.

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Only to me and maybe mom" Evy looked over to Ven and put a small smile on her face

"What's he like?" she asked as Aqua thought of the right words to describe him

"Clueless and gullible but also nice and fun, in a lot of ways he reminds me of you"

"Hey what's that suppose to mean?"

"Oh nothing" she said playfully as Evy glared at her then brought her eyes back to Ven. Then she noticed something about his hand, it was twitching.

"uhhhh.. um…" Aqua gasped then looked to Ven and saw his eyes slowly open.

"Ven?" when his eyes were fully open he looked over to his side and saw one his best friends with a small boy hanging onto her and next to her was a almost mini me version of herself.

'whoa how long was I out?' he thought to himself as he tried to get up. When he was half way up Aqua wrapped her free ar, around him and held him close to her

"Thank goodness you're alright" she said aloud completely forgetting about Dante sleeping on her arm. But it was her movement that caused Dante to wake up

"Nuh uhhhh…" when Aqua heard that from her brother she quickly drew back into her seat and wrapped him in both her arms and rocked him back and forth. All while Ventus looked at her with a raised eyebrow

"Shhh shhhhhh it's ok go back to sleep" Aqua said gently as she rocked him back and forth. Evy looked over to Ven and put out her hand as she said

"Hi I'm Evy, Aqua's sister" Ven turned his head over to her and shook her hand.

"Hey I know you, Aqua's always saying stuff about you like…" the instant Aqua heard Ven begin that statement she quickly put her hand over his mouth.

"Uhhh he's delirious and probably hungry" Aqua said as Evy glared at her while she wondered what she told him about her. Aqua got up while holding Dante in one arm and pulling Ven up with the other then pushed him out of his room

"I think I'll take these two to the kitchen" she said in a rush as she quickly walked out the room while pushing Ven. Ven just decided to roll with this, but before he completely left the room he waved bye to Evy as he said

"Bye Evy…" then as he was forced out the room he got a idea then tried to get back to his room.

"… hey Evy want to meet me in the simulation room, It could be fun to have to play games with someone besides your sister" Evy didn't fully understand what Ven asked her but just smiled and nodded as she said

"Sure I'll meet you there tommorow"

"Gre…" he started to say then was pulled by Aqua so he couldn't talk to her and possibly tell her one of the things she told him about her

"…AAAAAAATTTTTTTT!"

Evy giggled at the silly boy then left his room and headed to her room, deciding it was about time for her to hit the hay.


	12. Clueless Ven

**Ok I've figured out that people play favorites, so I'm going to tell you all who the main focus of the chapters are before you read them. So the next one's another Ven chapter**

"Ow ow ow Aqua this HURTS!" Ven yelled out as Aqua pulled him by his arm down the hall.

"Aqua stop!" Ven yelled out before they reached the kitchen door. She did as he asked then turned to face him with Dante in her arms laughing. Ven looked at the toddler with a raised eyebrow as he asked

"What's so funny?"Dante then pointed to Ven's face while still laughing

"Your face"

"Huh?" Ven asked wondering what was so silly about his face. Then he got a idea as he quickly stretched his mouth out with his fingers and stuck out his tongue and made a weird noise that made Dante laugh. It even made Aqua giggle a little, but then she took a breath and put on a straight face as she said

"Ven listen…" Ven stopped and looked up at Aqua, goofy face and all

"Yeah?"

"… I know I told you some things about my sister, but please don't tell her any of the things that I told you" Aqua said in a panicked tone because she knew Ven would probably have done so if she didn't tell him.

"Oh… alright" He said resting his face back into it's normal position

"I'm sorry about your arm Ven" Ven just grinned and shifted his arm around as he said

"Naw it's ok I like to get a good stretch when I wake up" that made Aqua and Dante laugh as she opened the door to the kitchen.

"You want anything to eat Ven?"

"Nope, I think I'll head back to my room. Get some more sleep"

"Alright then…" she said then realized something and quickly turned back around to Ven

"Wait Ven…" she said just before he was about to run off

"Yep?" he asked as Aqua leaned in and whispered something in his ear

"Can you do me a favor, I really didn't know about Dante till today. So can you please go find him a gift when it's convenient for you?" She asked making sure Dante didn't hear her as Ven nodded.

"Alright see 'ya in a little bit" Ven said as he ran down the hall to his room. Aqua smiled as she looked to her brother and poked his nose before entering the kitchen to get a snack for them, not knowing what was about to happen

**Back with Ven**

As he ran down the hall he began to recap the events that lead him to being asleep in Aqua's room, curious as to why he was there. Then he began to slow as his thoughts caught up with him

'Wait… I remember…' he thought as he slowed to a stop. '… I was chasing her because she took my…' then he gasped as he came to his realization. He was chasing after her because she took his gift for Master Eraqus

"I gotta get that cube back" he said out loud as he began to run towards Aqua's room. When he got there, he quickly peeked in her room to make sure no one was there.

When he was assured, he began to tip toe into the room, thinking in his mind that he was in some top secret vault. He knew all too well that Aqua and Terra didn't like anyone in their rooms, he still had the scars and bumps from when he tried. As he silently scanned the room for the cube, he didn't even notice the sound of dainty footsteps coming from the hall outside her room. Finally he spotted at the bag that he saw Aqua holding before she left radiant garden. He quickly dug through the bag

"Let's see gloves… a jacket… ear rings… some kind of weird gun…" he stated out as he shifted through the bag. Unbeknownst to him there was someone in the doorway tapping her foot as she starred at him

"Ah ha!" he said as he pulled out the black cube/chair he planned to give his master

"Aren't you a little old to be peaking at your Christmas presents?" the second Ven heard that he jumped up and covered his head as he knelt down into a ball postion.

"I SWEAR I WASN'T LOOKING IN YOUR DRAWERS AGAIN!" Ven yelled out as he cowered from what he thought was going to be a big beating. But he was surprised when he heard a girl giggling at the door that didn't sound anything like Aqua.

"So I'm guessing you're Ventus…" she said as she walked toward him slowly "… Terra told me a lot about you in his letters. He said you were a awesome friend and that you're practically like a little brother he never had" she said with a grin as she knelt down to Ven and patted his back to let him know she wasn't going to hurt him. He slowly raised his head to see who was talking to him. It was a girl with black hair that had pink highlights in it that complemented her sparkling blue eyes that reminded him of someone

"Uh do I know you?" he asked as he slowly got out of his protective ball and watched the girl giggle and then put her hand to her chest

"My name is Destiny, but you can call me Des." She said as Ven stared at her. Des blushed a little thinking he was checking her out, but what he was really doing was trying to figure out why she looked so familiar. Soon she waved her hand in front of his face

"Hey my eyes are right here" she said as she pointed to both her eyes and Ven shook out of his staring session

"Oh uh…" he stumbled as he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head "…sorry" that made her giggle a little

"Your fun" she stated as she reached for Ven's hand and uncoiled it to see what was in it. For some reason Ven couldn't explain he didn't want her to let go of his hand. It was like a little shock was going up his arm and he liked it.

"So what is this thing anyway?"

"Oh let me show you" he said as he grabbed the cube and pressed the blue button on one of its sides and set it down. Then in a matter of seconds it rapidly multiplied into hundreds of cubes that shaped into a chair with something protruding on its left side. It looked blocky but as it finished but it curved out and let out a small melody that sounded like holy music that Ven and Des laughed at.

"Ok that's cool" Des said as she jumped into the chair and swerved around in it "… and comfy" that made Ven laugh as he looked at the mini fridge on the side of it and grabbed a soda.

"Room for two?" Ven asked as he opened up his soda and let it fizz a little.

"Only if you give me that cream soda" she said as she pointed to the drink in his hand. He shrugged once then gave it to her as she scouted over a little and let Ven sit next to her for the next couple of minutes. She loved being close to him, he had this kind of warm aura around him that she just couldn't help but love. Ven had to admit it was a comfy seat, but just being next to Des made him feel nice.

**Meanwhile right outside the room **

Evy was holding Dante in her arms as he licked some purple goop off his fingers. Not the brightest idea for Aqua to let him make his own sandwich. As so happened Evy was passing by to her room when this happened. Aqua had the same mess on her as well and asked her sister to take Dante to the bath close to her room while she grabbed fresh towels from the laundry room in the opposite direction. And that's how Evy came to be holding a jam covered toddler who was trying to touch his sister's hair, to which she grabbed his hand and forced it to his side

"No" she said simply as she passed her sister's door. Then she heard a humming sound coming out of it

"What's that?" she asked herself, but that didn't stop Dante from answering

"Maybe it's a hive of wasps" Evy just shook her head with small grin. It didn't sound like any form of bug, it was mechanical.

"Aaahhhhhh yeaahhhh"

"What the…" she said to herself as she walked closer to the door and covered Dante's mouth. He mumbled something through her hand but couldn't be registered as anything. She slowly looked into the room and saw Ven on a vibrating chair with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. That made her chuckle a little as she admired how cute he looked relaxed. Then the grin on her face faded away as she saw Des reaching over him almost like she was hugging him. In her mind she could hear the tiniest noise of something cracking inside her. Then her face flared up with anger as Dante loosened her hand and looked up at her.

"Evy are you ok?" he asked innocently as she growled and stomped off with him in her arms. Causing a little pain in him as she took him into the bathroom

**Back in the room**

"What are you doing?" Ven asked as Des kept pressing on the chair's shoulder

"I'm turning on the massage setting" she said as she finished what she was doing and sat normally as the chair began to vibrate and left big dumb smiles on Ven and Des' faces. But before Ven got lost in the tickling senstation as Des gently leaned onto him and almost fell asleep with him. If it wasn't for the fact that Ven shut off the massage setting and got up

"What are you doing?" She asked as Ven turned around to face her

"I was going to head back to my room. Gotta get some sleep"

"Oh…" Des said disappointedly as she got out of the chair. Ven picked up on her disappointed tone, he thought that she was sad that they couldn't hang out because of the day ending. Thinking quickly he thought of something that she could do with him tomorrow, if he only knew why she really was disappointed.

"Hey if you want we could hang out tomorrow. I was going to go to the simulation room to play a game with someone, if you want to join" he asked as she smiled and nodded

"Sure..." she said with a yawn "…I'll ask my brother where that is later. But now I think I'll go to sleep, night Ven" she said waving good bye before she left and he returning the wave.

When she was gone he finally did what he aimed to do in the first place. He found the button and watched the chair turn back into its small cube form once again. He snagged and dropped in his pocket and snickered at his success then made his way out of Aqua's room and toward his for a good night's sleep.

**Meanwhile in the bathroom**

"OW EVY STOP THAT HURTS!" Dante said as his sister scrubbed the jam off of him.

"Shouldn't have made such a mess then" she snapped back as she kept at it. She really didn't need that much pressure to scrub her brother clean, but she was mad and needed some way to relieve her anger.

Thank god Aqua arrived with the towels a couple minutes later and told her sister that she'd take over. Evy left the bath room and started for her room, all the way thinking

'That… jerk trying to take Ven for herself' She fell asleep with a mad look etched into her face

And with that the first day of their Christmas had ended, and the second was going to be more eventful than the first.

**Sorry if this seemed like a filler chapter, I promise I'll make it up in the next one. I just wanted to get the pieces in the right place for the next chapter, so review if you want see where my insanity will take you XD**


	13. Game time

**The next chapter is a Terra chapter**

The youngest residents of the castle had gotten up first, being young has its benefits. Aqua was the first to wake up, staying true to her promise of making breakfast. Terra and Des had woken up next and followed a sweetly smelling aroma to the kitchen. Aqua greeted them warmly and gave them a plate of pancakes to split. Des only had two, not being much of a breakfast coinsure, while Terra had his fill and complemented Aqua on her cooking who haply thanked him. Des left to take a shower leaving Terra and Aqua alone for a brief moment. Brief was the key word as a couple seconds later Evy came in with Dante next to her. she picked up a piece of toast while Dante got his own special plate of pancakes

"Chocolate!" he proclaimed before he dug in to his chocolate chip pancakes.

"So Evy do you have any plans?" Aqua asked as she set took a break

"Actually yeah I do. Ven said he was going to take me to the simulation room to play a game" Aqua looked at her sister and chuckled before grabbing a piece of toast and saying

"Good luck" Evy didn't know why her sister told her that, but shrugged it off.

"You're going to pway a gaem…" Dante said with a mouth full of pancakes "…I wanna paly" Evy was going to say no so, she wanted to Ven all to herself after Des got him alone yesterday. But Aqua had rear in

"Yeah he'd love that. Take him with you"

"Why doesn't he stay with you? You guys really haven't spent much time together" Evy argued

"Well I have to cook for everyone this morning and I don't think that'll be much fun for Dante" she retorted back and got support from a nod from Dante

"Yeah it'll be boring here" with a sigh Evy said it was ok for him to come along, which he joyfully accepted and finished his breakfast then left for the simulation room with Evy.

Ven had woken up earlier than Des and Evy, skipping on breakfast which he seldom did, so he could get into the shower before everyone else. As soon as he was all squeaky clean and dressed he looked around for Des so he could take to the simulation room like he promised. To his luck he found her right outside Terra's room fully dressed

"Good morning!" he said happily, making her crack a smile

"Morning Ven. Now which way are you taking me?"

"Oh umm…" he said as he looked around and pointed to his right. "…that way. Hey I'll race ya!"

"Wait what…?"

"Ready set go!" he proclaimed as he burst down the hallway. Des quickly ran after him and continually told him to slow down, which he didn't.

**Meanwhile…**

Outside a door with a lot of intricate carvings and no handle stood Evy and Dante, waiting. For what Dante hadn't a clue, but he didn't dare ask his sister why she already looked mad enough for having to take him along. Gladly he didn't have to spend much time with just his sourpuss of a sister because the echo of footsteps came from down the hall.

Ven rushed down the hallway with Des not too far behind him gasping for air, still telling him to stop or at least slow down. It wasn't a surprise to him that she couldn't keep up, after all he was a natural acrobat.

"ANNNNDDD…." Ven said as he stopped on his right foot and turned around to watch Des slowly stop and slump down to her knees and take in some big breaths. "…I win" he said with a grin. It may have been conceded but he loved it when he won, it made him feel good inside. Then he turned around and saw the girl he asked to meet him here first

"Hi Evy" he said with with glee written all over his face. She didn't respond as Dante waved cheerfully at Ven

"Hi!" he greeted Ven without a hint of shyness, guess little kids are good judges of character. Ven quickly swooped down to him and gave him a high five

"Hi little guy" he said as enthusiastically as Dante. Then Ven stopped and stood up straight as he placed his hand onto the wall. Des finally caught her breath and looked up at Ven

"Uh Ven?..." then before she finished a weird blue light went across his hand and opened the door Evy and Dante had been standing next to. Ven then took his hand off and offered them to go in. Evy went in first, with her arms crossed and semi scowl on her face, followed by Dante then before Des went in she looked over at Ven who again offered her to go in. 'This castle certainly is interesting' she thought then walked in followed by Ven who closed the door behind him, making the room pitch black dark. That made Dante scream and even start to cry

"TO DARK, TO DARK!"

"WHOA, relax little guy" Ven said as the room began to light up with a grid design that went across the whole room.

"Welcome to the simulation room, in this place you can play a bunch of action games that feel like you're actually right in the middle of battle" Ven explained as he saw joy go across Dante's face and also a impressed grin from Des. Yet nothing from Evy, which was odd to him

"Soooo…." Ven said as he waved his hand out and brought up a screen in front of him "…what do you guys feel like playing?" Dante and Des immediately ran over to the screen and watched Ven scroll through various simulations that all looked really cool, not noting Evy slowly walking over.

She wasn't just mad because of having to bring Dante along with her, what really made her mad was what she saw in her sister's room yesterday. She thought that Des had gotten Ven to be her boyfriend or something in only a matter of not even a day and she couldn't stand to look at Des without getting pissed or look at Ven without imagining Des wrapped around him like in that chair.

"That one!" Des said pointing to a simulation that looked like a urban city

"No that one, it looks like the future!" Dante said as Des just shook her head

"No on second thought this one…" she said as she made Ven scroll back to another one "… that's like something out of a comic book" Evy was standing next to Dante and watched Ven scroll through some more while her brother and 'rival' argued about what to pick

"Don't fight I'm pretty sure there's something in here you'll both…" he began to say then saw Evy's hand come out of nowhere and press down on one, making the screen disappear and the room change.

"Hey what did you do that for?" Ven asked as the grid layout of the room began to morph into a enchanted forest with birds and butterflies flying everywhere as it materialized. Evy just took a couple steps away from them and loosened up a little

"Less talk more game" she said as dark creatures started to emerge from the forest and surround them. That made Dante and Des back away toward Ven who stared at the creatures with excitement in his eyes

"Well in any case. Let the game…" he began to say as a circle appeared below his feet then quickly zipped up him and engulfed him in light. As it faded away, a green tunic appeared on him with black pants and a green cap on his head. Dante and Des looked at him with awe as he drew out a long and shiny sword and spun it around so he could hold it back handed, the way he preferred.

"You guys might want to get suited" Ven told them as he got into a fighting stance.

"Well how do we…?" Des asked then saw another flash of light. She quickly spun around and saw Evy in a short blue dress with a feather in her hair. Then she drew out two twin wands and took a furious pose. All while Dante looked at her in awe

"Woah Evy you look so…" he said taking a step toward her, then that same circle Ven was under a couple of seconds ago appeared below him and transformed him just like his sister. When the light faded this time he was in a green tunic just like Ven but his ears were pointed and he didn't have a cap and in his little hands were two twin daggers. Dante took a long look at himself and a big smile immediatly went across his face, making him do a flip in the air out of all his excitement

"This is totally Awesome!" Des grinned at him then took a step forward and sure enough that same circle appeared and gave her a cool new costume just like the rest. She was wearing loose brown wool pants with a black top and a blue scarf that wrapped around her mouth and neck. She took a quick spin to look at herself before she said

"Aw sweet, I look…" she began to say but was stopped short when she saw a wolf rush up to her. Before she could even shield herself Ven jumped in just in time and slashed through the wolf right down the middle then watched it turned to black dust as a little counter appeared above his head that read 'one'

"Not gonna be much of a game if you don't move Des" Ven said as he got back into his fighting pose and charged at some more monsters. While on the other side of the room, Dante did a short chuckle as he cocked back his daggers and rushed forward

"I'm gonna beat you!" he said confidently as he jumped in the air and landed on one of the wolves back and rode him like some angry bull. "GETTY UP LITTLE DOGGY!" he said aloud as he made the wolf ram into anything that didn't look friendly.

While on the opposite side of him his sister just stood there and waited for the enemies to get really close to her. So close that Ven almost jumped in to help her just like he did Des, but at the very last moment before one attacked her she raised both her wands and clashed them together in the air and created a big BOOM that blasted them away. Ven was left in awe as he saw her score go up from zero to thirty in a blink of a eye as she looked over to him and actually cracked a grin for the first time since they entered. As it turned out hitting things actually took away some of the frustration she had

"Whoa…" that's all Ven could say as she kept her grin up. Then it quickly faded as she ran toward him and leapt over him. Ven quickly spun around to see what she was doing then got his answer, something big and scary was behind him.

"You might want to keep your guard up" she told him as she pointed both her wands at the beast and was about to strike it before something started to rapidly fire something at the beast. It didn't stand a chance and went up in smoke like the others before it, both Ven and Evy looked behind them to see Des with two weird arrow guns strapped on to her wrists. Evy scowled at her while Ven applauded her

"Not too bad for noobie" that made Des giggle while she walked over to him. Evy was needless to say sick of Des hogging all of Ven's attention. So with a quick flick of one of her wands she made a vine slither out of the ground and cause Des to trip and fall on her face.

"Ow!"

"Des!" Ven yelled out as he ran over to her and Left Evy alone, who was snickering to herself. While behind them Dante finished off the last of the creatures along with the one he was riding on. When he was finished he ran over to his sister and punched her in the shin

"Ow, hey what did I tell you about hitting!" she told her brother and waved her finger at him. Dante just glared at her and said

"That wasn't very nice sis, just look at what you did" he pointed over to Ven helping Des up while she held her hand over her nose to stop the bleeding. That didn't even make her feel one bit of guilt for what she did

"Dante sometimes people just need a good kick in the butt" then after she finished that statement Dante kicked his foot as high he could so he could kick her butt.

"OUCH!"

"Yeah and your one of them" he said as Ven walked over with Des holding onto his shoulder while she kept her hand on her nose.

"Sorry but we'll need to play again later, she needs to lay down for a little bit" Ven said to Dante who nodded and Evy just gave a look that said 'whatever'. Ven helped Des walk over to a clearing in the forest that he knew was the door out. But before he could get there the virtual sky went pitch black with storm clouds that began to roll in and crack red lightning that made Dante jump and clench onto his sister's leg, only because she was the closest thing next to him

"W...w-what was that?" he asked as Ven looked around and heard a faint noise, like something gently tapping onto something. Then a sinister laugh echoed through the room and lead them to the source of this commotion. It was a man in black armor and a shredded black cloak that blew in the wind. They could not see his face for it was covered in a visor like helmet that covered his whole head.

"Ven, what is that?" Des asked as Ven's eyes went wide.

"I think that's a boss, and what's worse I can't get us out until we beat him" Des immediately got off his shoulder and aimed her arms out at this so called boss.

"Wait Des your hurt" he said as a glimmer of joy shined in her eyes.

"And that's when you know you're having a lot of fun" she said as she began to rapidly fire arrows at the dark warrior, which broke on impact with his armor. When she finally ran out, he chuckled

"Best you got?" he said as he rose his hand and drew out a big black buster blade.

"Nice try Des but let a better player do it" Evy said as she rose both her wands and pointed them toward him.

"Ok that was uncalled for" She tolf her as Evy swayed her wands back then clashed them together creating a large lightning blast that raced toward the dark warrior. Ven gasped then looked to her

"Wait stop!" but it was too late. When the lightning hit it didn't do anything but conduct its way through his armor then up to the tip of his sword.

"Thanks" he said as he raised his sword toward the sky and slammed it back down into the ground, causing the lightning to course its way through the ground zapping everyone and making the dark forest light up.

Everyone but the warrior was now on the ground looking like they were in pain, but in actuality it was just the game pushing them down to look like it. The warrior began to walk toward them, chuckling as he shook his head

"Wow I expected more from yo…" he said then cut it off short and let out a small gasp when he saw the little bits of blood going down Des's face. He quickly began to sprint over to her as fast as he could with all the armor on him weighing him down a little

"Woah what happened…" he began to say but got cut off when Dante, out of nowhere, jumped him and started scratching away at his armor with his daggers.

"Hey back off!" he told him as he tried to swat him off. But Dante just kept on him till he hit a strap that caused his heavy metal tunic to fall off with his shoulder guards. Then Dante quickly got up and pointed his daggers at him

"Ah ha I got you…" he began to say then he looked at what he was wearing under the armor. He was wearing a black tight shirt with bits of loose tannish pants peaking from under his leg guards. The same thought went through everyone's head as they all said aloud

"Terra?" he nodded then took off his helmet and rushed over to his sister and took a good look at her face

"Des what happened?" he asked as he wiped some of the blood off of her upper lip

"I fell down is all, stop it" she said as she swatted away his hand.

"Ven open the door out of here" he commanded Ven, who did what he said without question. When he opened the door the whole forest setting went away and it just became the same dark room it was before. Terra walked Des out and lead her down the hall before he turned back and looked at Ven

"I'm gonna take her to get cleaned up. Why don't you go bring them to to Aqua she's in the front hall hanging up some decorations" Ven looked at him and struck a little confused look

'What's a decoration?' he thought to himself before he shook it off and told his friend ok. Then he turned to Dante and Evy and told them to follow him, which they did. But all the way there Dante glared at his sister because of what she did. He had always looked up to her and thought she couldn't do anything wrong up until now. So it made him a little mad when he realized that she wasn't as good as he thought she was.

Personally Evy couldn't care less, about anything


	14. Ouuuu

**Thanks for all the reviews, so now on to another Terra chapter**

Terra took his sister to the bathroom next to his room to clean her up. He was dabbing a wet rag under Des' nose, wiping away the blood and checking to make sure it wasn't bruised or anything. All while Des laughed on inside, Terra had always been like this with her. He always was this overly protective brother that most sisters would hate. With her she didn't, it was nice to know someone would keep her safe since her father wouldn't. It had been that way ever since they were kids.

She remembered this one time when she was five she skinned her knee. Terra immediately ran to her the instance he heard her cry and picked her up and ran her back to their house only to find out it was locked. Instead of just waiting outside or going to one of his neighbors houses he put Des on his back and climbed his one story house to the balcony. Des could remember how tightly she hung onto him, only because of the marks that she left on his neck that lasted for a week. She couldn't help but let out a giggle as she thought. Which made her brother stop and look at her queerly.

"What, ticklish?" he asked as he did a quick sweep across her nose, trying to tickle her, making her chuckle as she shook her head

"No, I was just thinking…" she began to say then was abruptly interrupted by the sounds of the door slamming open with one obnoxious man yelling out

"Man! I need to take a dump like there's no tommor…" he said then stopped short when he saw them with small smiles on their faces as they held back their laughter. He just snorted and said

"Oh shut up both of you, I didn't know anyone was in here. By the way Terra didn't know you played nurse" he said with a snort as he kept walking forward and unbuckled his pants. Both of them immediately put a hand over their eyes as Terra asked, rather yelled out

"Do you have no sense of decency?"

"At all?" Des added as Terra helped her down and headed for the door.

"Decency? If I had decency then I wouldn't be the best fighter in town now would I, and that's another thing how could a kid of mine complain about a bloody nose. I once had both my arms broken and still won a fight without com…" before he finished Terra slammed the door shut.

'That man…' he thought to himself as he shook his head '…if there's a god then why did he make me his son?' Des saw the slight flicker of anger mixed with disgust in her brother's eyes, something she knew need to vanish immediately or else he was going to be in a bad mood for the rest of the day. So a idea came to her mind

"Hey Terra let's go see mom I think she might be in that big room right next to the front doors?" She asked, making Terra snap out of his thoughts and look down at his sister and nod

"Yeah let's do that" he said and began to walk with his sister right next to him, navigating her through the castle so she wouldn't get lost. To be honest he had gotten lost a couple of times in here in the past.

But gladly within a matter of minutes they took had taken echoed steps into the grand entry room which looked a little different than before. All around the room were bright color filled lights lined with bushy tinsel hung underneath it all centering around the tree and spreading throughout the entire room.

"Wow" Des said to herself as Terra put on a small smile with a look that almost looked like he was going to cry. The whole room reminded him of Christmases back home, because it basically looked like the same set up.

Then from across the room they saw their mother on the top of a latter, finishing putting up the last of the lights. When she did finish, she turned around and waved to her children.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey mom" they both said as they walked over to her as she started her way down the ladder. But just as she was stepping down, one of the steps broke and caused her to lose her balance and fall. Both Terra and Des gasped in unison as their mother started to scream. Terra quickly jumped into action and summoned his keyblade. Then he threw it out in front of him and made it transform into his rider and watched it zoom up to his mother and catch her. He sighed in relief when he saw his mother clutching onto rider, safe and alive.

"Close one" he said to himself then looked up to see the ladder falling towards him and Des

"OH SHOOT!" He yelled out as he grabbed her and did a quick dodge to the left and got out of the way. The latter crashed to the ground into several pieces as Terra got up with his sister who looked at the now broken latter

"Ok that was closer" he said to himself as he looked back to his rider and commanded it to lower itself to ground level. When it landed in front of him and his sister he put a hand over his mother, who was still quacking in fear at what had almost happened, to let her know it was ok now.

"Mom...mom…" he said as he shook her. Then Des started to shake her

"Mom… mom it's alright your safe now all thanks to Terra" Des said as they watched their mom slowly uncoil and get off her son's rider. She took a quick look at herself to make sure she was ok and even pinched herself to make sure she wasn't in some kind of after death dream. Terra and Des chuckled at her as she let out a sigh of relief then quickly hugged her son.

"Thank you Terra" Terra hugged back with a smile

"Don't mention it mom" he said humbly. Terra noticed something weird with his mother as he hugged her, her heart felt like it was going to explode from how fast it was beating. As he let go of his mom he looked at her and could tell she was paler then the last time he saw her "Gez mom you don't look good, maybe you should sit down in your room for a bit?" He asked her and she nodded.

"Yes your right, heh… there's no rollercoaster that'll match that thrill ride I just went through" she joked taking in a breath to try and calm her heart. She was going to take her son's advice and started for her room. But not before she gave her son a light kiss on the cheek to thank him again, which made Terra blush like a tomato. He loved kisses from his mom, it had been his reward for doing good ever since he was a baby.

Then just as all this was happened, Aqua and her mother ran out of the kitchen with master Eraqus rushing into the room as well.

"What happened?" His master asked as he, Aqua, and her mother stopped by the three, noticing the broken ladder and Terra's mother semi-hyperventilating to try and calm her heart

"Nothing I just fell is all" she explained as her children vouched for her

"Oh my… my deepest apologizes Ms. Elise, I should've have given you the metal ladder instead of the wooden one" he said sincerely as he picked up the remains of the ladder

"I'll just throw this out"

"Wait master allow me" Aqua said as she took it off his hands. She felt gracious towards him since he let her borrow his credit card to buy gifts and let her family come stay her for the weekend, so this was the least she could do to say thanks.

"Why thank you Aqua" he said then watched her walk away from them in the direction of the fireplace, it would make good kindling. Then Terra's mom gasped as everyone looked to her to see why

"What?" Terra asked

"I forgot to put this up" she said as she raised her hand and showed everyone a small plant with a couple red berries on it.

"Mistletoe?" Eraqus asked as she nodded at him

"Yeah I thought it seemed pretty festive"

"Well your right it is" Aqua's mother said as Terra's mom handed it to her son as she pointed over to the top of the door

"Terra if you don't mind can you please put that on the top of the hallway entrances for me?" Terra hesitated, because his master had told him on many occasions not to use the keyblade for ridiculous things such as this. But his master looked over to him and gave him a nod to say that for this one time he could do this. Then Terra, with a grin, summoned his keyblade and turned it into its glider form and flew toward the ceiling and pinned one on each of the hallways entrances. Then he looked back to his mother and asked

"Hows that?" his mother looked at it a little funny then pointed her finger to the left

"A little to the…"

"I got it" he said as he moved it a little then looked back at her to see she was giving him a thumbs up. That put a smile on his face as he descended down to the ground and watched his glider disappear in flash of light. Then he heard Aqua coming down the hall, dusting off the little chips of wood on her. Terra happily grinned at her which she returned with a grin of her as she looked at him then to one of the large windows in the entryway

"Oh look it's snowing some more" Terra looked out the window to and chuckled as he looked back to his friend

"Guess it's certain were going to have a white Christmas" Then almost out of nowhere both their mothers and Terra's sister went

"Ouuuuu" that made Terra and Aqua look over to them, questioning why they were doing that. They found out when Des pointed to the recently placed mistletoe on top of the ceiling. They quickly looked at each other then back at them and yelled out

"NO!"

"But rules are rules" Aqua's mom said as she crossed her arms and smiled, almost smugly

"But… but… Master" Terra asked his master, hoping he would get him out of this. But his master wasn't going to help, he was to busy chuckling at the silliness of the situation

"Sorry Terra but rules are rules, so go ahead" then they both sighed and looked at each other. They both looked into each other's eyes and could just tell the other one really didn't want to do it. But just so their families wouldn't be hanging it over their heads for the rest of their stay they decided to just do it. So they puckered their lips and heard their families 'ou's' change to 'aw's' as they, for a split second, kissed. Then they saw a flash of light that made them quickly look back at them.

"DES!" Terra yelled out as his sister showed their mother and Aqua's mother the picture that she had just taken with her phone. That made Terra blush red as he rushed toward her with a angry look on his face

"YOU BETTER DELETE THAT!"

"Oh boy" she said sarcastically as she began to run through the castle with her phone in hand making sure to keep it away from her brother. Leaving Aqua alone, standing still, as her mother walked down to her and waved her hand in front of her daughters face

"Aqua? Honey you ok?" then Aqua snapped out of her little trance and looked at her mother and lied

"Uh yeah mom I'm perfectly fine"

**Next one's Aqua's turn**


	15. Mother to Mother

Aqua, her mother, and Terra's mother continued to do work to get Christmas ready before the day after tomorrow. Master Eraqus was helping them by getting the food they needed and even offered to cook. But the two mothers turned him down on his offer, they both wanted to give their babies a nice home cooked meal.

So now they are in the kitchen, each working hard to prepare the great feast for everyone tomorrow. Well mostly just the two mothers, Aqua on the other was constantly staring off into space. Her mother began to worry, she had never done that before. She was always the girl who would get things done without the slightest hint of distraction, but now ever since that kiss with Terra it was like…

"Wait… oh that's why…" she said to herself out of realization. That was why, that kiss with Terra was distracting her.

"So that's it… but why is she acting so strangely about it?" she said to herself as she added some spices to a stew she was making. "I mean a kiss is kiss unless it's…" then she gasped when she put two and two together.

That was probably Aqua's first kiss. She never had any boyfriends back home or any real friends that were guys so she couldn't have had it before she came here. She laughed at thought that she was there for her daughter's first kiss. Then she got curious as to something else. So she walked over to Terra's mother who was making a lip moistening turkey that looked heavenly so far.

"Wow that looks good" she complimented as she kept basting it

"Thanks, but it's gonna taste even better when I get the stuffing ready"

"I bet it will… hey I wanted to ask you something Elise" she said figuring they were on first name basis. Terra's mom then set down the baster and leaned onto the counter

"Sure what is it?"

"Well I was wondering…" she said as she leaned in and whispered the rest into her ear to make sure Aqua didn't hear. Then she did a small laugh as she shook her head

"No not really"

"Really?" she asked in disbelief as Elise nodded

"Yeah not even one"

"Wow that's surprising"

"Not really, I mean his dad kept him on a tight leash with all the training he put him through. So he really didn't have that many friends or time to himself…which I really hate my husband for doing"

"Yeah I've been meaning to ask about that, if it's not too personal. But why did you ummm…?" she began to say trying to find another way of stating out her question. But she already knew what she wanted to ask

"I was forced to marry him…" that single statement made her gasp and go wide eyed as Elise began to look down to the ground, these weren't in any way happy memories. "… my father made me, you see he was his manager back when he use to fight and as sick as it is he threw me into a deal for him to manage that monster" she was left awestruck at what she said as she watched her try to keep a tear from falling down he face. Her father… did he even see her as his daughter…or just a piece of meat?

"I'm so sorry I asked" she said sincerely as Elise looked up and wiped her eyes before shaking her head

"Don't be it's ok, can't keep your emotions all bottled up all the time… otherwise it just makes you sick" she said as she her hands clean on her blouse "so I answered your question you mind if I ask one of my own Claire?" Elise asked and she nodded in response

"Go right ahead"

"Well… where is your husband?" she almost hesitated to ask. Was it to inappropriate to ask her this? She took in a deep breath and told her that he had died.

"Oh my… I'm sorry" She apologized, she felt so bad for asking. Claire told her that it was ok, that it wasn't a big deal. Guess she thought that since she answered honestly that she should. She even went on to say how he died

"He died of Cancer…" a flicker of sadness brushed across her eyes as she continued "…he was a kind man, not the strongest or smartest but kind. When I was wrapped in his arms I just felt like I was at peace" she said with a sigh at the end, remembering those happy memories of him just holding her and telling her new ways of saying I love you made her happy. That made Elise put a small smile on her face as she imagined what life would be like if she could've met a guy like that. A guy that didn't just want her for her looks but loved her for her, like her children did. Just then the door opened up and all three of the women heard the pitter patter of small feet and giggling. That put a smile on Aqua and her mother's face as they coyly looked around the kitchen.

"Hey mom did you hear something?" Aqua asked coyly as she began to slowly tailgate Dante who was giggling to himself which tipped her off. She stood behind him, surprised that he didn't notice her yet.

Her mother, loving to play along, shook her head

"No I didn't hear anything dear, did you hear anything Elise?" she just shook her head as she picked up a spoon and shrugged

"Nope maybe it was just a tiny mouse" and with that she went back to making her food with a grin on her face, liking this playful thing they had going on. Dante was about a second from jumping out, thinking he would spook them, before Aqua came up from behind him and grabbed him by his shoulders

"Boo!"

"Wahhhh!" Dante shrieked out as he tried run out of his sister's grip as he chanted 'let me go' about a dozen times making all three of them laugh. Aqua then heaved him up on to the counter and looked at him with a smile.

"What are you doing here silly?" she said as she poked nose and made him giggle

"I was bored and wanted to see what you guys were doin'"

"Bored…?" Aqua asked as she cocked her head to the side

"Yeah and I really don't want to be with Evy right now"

"Hmm..? why not?" their mother asked as she walked over to them. It was so unlike him not to want to be with her

"Well… she's mean"

"Mean?" Aqua questioned because in her mind Evy was actually very kind and fun

"Why do you think that?" their mother asked

"Cause, she's been acting mean to me ever since she hurt Des a little while ago"

"She did what?" their mother asked thinking or hoping she had miss heard him

"I told you mommy she hurt Des when we were playing with Ven" that caught Elise's attention and made her turn around and look at them. Making Claire feel a little embarrassed that she overheard that part of their conversation

"Uh heh heh kid's and their imaginations… am I right?" she said with a false smile and shrug as Elise just grinned and said

"Yeah, you should've seen my kids when they were growing up" she said with a short laugh as she remembered some of the times that Terra and Des played pretend. But she knew that she was lying and didn't mind it, however she did know that she needed to see if daughter was ok later

"But mom I'm not making this…" before he could finish she put her hand over his mouth then looked over at Aqua

"Hey Aqua want do mommy a favor?"

"Let me guess you want me to take Dante out?" she asked then pointed to the door. That made her mom do a short chuckle

"You can read me like a book cant you?" She answered as Aqua nodded then picked up Dante and took him out of the kitchen all while he russled around and kept saying 'let me go' again. She carried him all the way to the front doors then put him down

"What are you doing?" Dante asked as he watched his sister put on her snow boots and slip on her jacket

"I'm going to have fun outside with you little guy" she said then poked him. But he just shook his head

"I don't want to play in the snow"

"You don't?"

"No"

"Hmmm…" Aqua needed to keep Dante occupied and out of trouble. So she thought of something else to do besides making a snowman or having a snowball fight. So she dug into the closet pushed box after box till she found a log with a handle at the end and a couple pegs sticking out at the end of it. Dante stared at it with awe as he tried to reach for it as Aqua playfully pulled it away from him

"You only get to play with this if you go outside with me" and with that Dante quickly started to get his snow stuff on, making his sister laugh as he did. Give a kid a toy he'll do anything you want.

Dante stood in front of the door and shook impatiently as he waited for his sister

"COME ON ALREADY!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming" she said as she opened the door for him and watched him run outside.

"Hey wait up for me!" she said then ran outside after him and chased him to the training grounds

**Stay tuned for the next chapter where a big plot twist will amerge. **


	16. Plain old silly fun

Dante looked in awe at the things around him, training dummies, turnabouts staked into the ground with metal tied on the ends (or whatever that thing Ven hits in the beginning of bbs is), and disk shooters.

"Aqua what is this place!" he asked with glee as his sister came to his side

"This is the training grounds, this is where my master taught me how to use the keyblade" Dante then looked at her, curious as to the last thing she said

"Key…blade?"

"I knew you'd ask that, it looks like this" she said as she gave him that same wooden toy that she dug out of the closet. Dante looked at with curiosity and gave it a swing, falling into the snow the instant he did. Aqua giggled at him then helped him up

"Try hitting one of those dummies with it"

"Ok!" Dante said energeticly as he ran towards one of the dummies with toy in hand and started sockin'em. Dante had a little trouble with the first few swings because of the weight of the toy. But eventually he figured out a way to use that to his advantage and kept hammering through the single dummy.

At first Aqua thought this wouldn't be anything special but just watching him have fun. But as Dante smacked the dummy around Aqua began to notice that he was actually pretty good with that toy. Like he had been swinging a blade like that for years. Maybe handling blades ran in her family?

Eventually he got tired and walked back to his big sister with a tired smile on his face

"That was….huff… fun" Dante said as his sister responded with a smile and ruffle of his hair

"I bet it was, you looked with really cool out there with that toy"

"Yeah I bet I did" Dante said proudly as he struck a heroic pose. That just made Aqua laugh as proceeded to ask him

"Hey do you want to see what a real keyblade looks like?" she got a response instantaneously when Dante quickly nodded. Then she placed her hand out and in a flash of light summoned her cerulean keyblade. All while Dante looked at her with awe

"COOL!" he said as with a giant grin. She could see Dante was loving this, then she got a idea

'Might as well show him what this key can really do' she thought as she pointed her blade at one of the many training dummies

"FIRE!" she yelled out then a small ball of fire rushed out of her blade and lit the dummy on fire and melted some of the snow off the other dummies.

The flames shimmered off Dante's mesmerized eyes as he got really excited and struggled to get his blade pointed at a dummy

"Fire!" he yelled out then stood there for a couple seconds thinking he could do it to. But as he realized nothing was happening

"Hey what the…?" he asked himself as wacked the toy on the ground a couple times thinking that if he did that it would make it work. Aqua gasped then ran over and grabbed the blade before he struck it again

"No, Dante don't do that… "

"But it doesn't work"

"What just because it can't do that" she asked as she pointed over to the now blackened dummy. Dante did a quick nod then grabbed the toy from her and pointed it at another dummy

"Fire!..." he said then waited a couple seconds then looked back to his sister "…see I can't do it"

"Well the toy can't do it because it isn't a real keyblade"

"Oh…" Dante said then looked at her blade "...well can I see yours?" Dante said rather than asked as he grabbed her blade without letting her give a answer

"Uh Dante…" she tried to say but was cut off when Dante said

"Fire!" then in a flash of light Aqua's keyblade disappeared from his hands and reappeared in his sister's. Dante looked at her with confusion as he asked

"Whoa how'd you do that?"

"I didn't do anything, the keyblade did" Dante starred at her with confusion as he poked her keyblade once, still wondering how it did it as he asked

"It did what?"

"It went back to its wielder, which is me. Not everyone can hold this key Dante, only a special few can like me, Terra, and Ven"

"Oh… so I'm not special?" he said sadly as Aqua shook her head

"No I didn't mean it like that Dante. It's just that…" she began to say then stopped when she heard the sound of voices coming toward them.

"Who's that?"

"I don't know, but come on we gotta move" she said, grabbing his hand as she rushed over to the path that lead to the summit and hid with him in the shadows. Aqua was only being cautious, because if it was her master then she would be in a little bit of trouble. Being that no one but keybladers were suppose to be in the training grounds.

"So this is it?" they heard a deep man voice say as he came into the pale winter light.

"Yeah this is it and may I point out again how no one but me, Aqua, Ven, or my master can be up here" said a voice that both of them knew as he stood in the same light that the other man stood in.

"Screw that Terra, now just show me how much stronger that crazy old man made you" Terra sighed then looked at one of the dummies and without any effort gently tapped it with the edge of his knuckles. Aqua had to cover her and Dante's mouth so that their laughter couldn't be heard. But his dad didn't take it as a joke

"Don't fuck around with me, actually try you pathetic excuse for my son" Aqua quickly covered Dante's ears before he swore so he couldn't hear. Terra just grunted at him and actually hit the dummy hard enough for it to shake (like about 3 centimeters). Aqua and Dante were silently chuckling to themselves again; it was actually pretty funny to see the angry faces his dad made when he did this. Then almost out of the blue Terra's dad ran up to him and punched him hard in the back. Aqua gapsed as she covered Dante's eyes and mouth while she felt him try to mumble something. Terra fell to the ground while he held onto his stomach and glared up at his dad who was pissed to say the least

"Is this what he fucking taught you? To be a smart ass who doesn't listen to his father when he gives you an **ORDER**?"

"No…" Terra grumbled out as he dealt with the pain of that blow while lying in the snow. His old man may have been old, but he still had enough muscle to make any man or woman think twice about crossing his path. "… he taught me what monsters are" he said under his breath as his dad kept a scowl on his face then grabbed Terra's jacket and tore it off him.

"You're going to do some actual training now, I want to see the rest of these dummies turned into timber while you stand here in the cold…" he said as he shook the remains of Terra's jacket "… and if I even see you in that castle without ice cold sweet going down your head then… hehe you know" he said then gave Terra a punch on the shoulder then headed back to the castle to see if dinner was ready. Terra growled as he mustered enough strength to get up and rub his arms to keep warm.

Aqua couldn't believe what she had just seen, how could someone as nice as Terra be the son of such a monster? It just didn't make any sense…

As she thought this she didn't even notice Dante slip out of her arms and run to Terra

"Hey you alright?" Dante asked aloud as Aqua noticed where he was

"Dante!" Aqua yelled to him as Terra got into a fighting stance and faced Dante rather quickly

"HEY LEAVE ME ALONE YOU FREAKIN' BAS…!" he began to yell before he got a good look at who had said it. "…Dante?" he asked the now frightened little boy. Terra immediately felt bad when he saw his sad face. So he quickly started to explain himself

"Woah Dante I'm so sorry I didn't mean to yell at you I thought that you were…" he tried to explain but only got Dante's frightened scurry back to his sister as a reaction. Dante clanged onto his sister's leg as he looked away from the frightening Terra.

"Aqua? What are you guys doing here, I thought you knew that we shouldn't bring anyone but us up here?"

"I know, I know…" Aqua said as she stroked Dante's hair to comfort him "… I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to keep him occupied is all"

"Oh…" Terra said as he looked at Dante who was still a little scared of him "…well I won't tell besides no harm came of it. Besides you know I'm not like that anyway"

"Thanks Terra…" she said then struck a smile as she did a small tug on Dante's arm "…come on little guy let's get back to the castle" Dante simply responded with a nod then grabbed on to his sister's hand and walked back to the castle with her.

But she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Terra as she took a look back at him over her shoulder. He had to take out all twenty of those training dummies by himself, and she knew that he wasn't (and couldn't because his father would definitely check to make sure he did as told) going to weasel out of it. She didn't even notice that she had stopped in her tracks as Dante tried to go forward but found it impossible to move his sister, no matter how many times he tugged.

"Aqua come oonnnnn!" he said in a whiney tone that made Aqua snap out of her thoughts

"Huh what?" she said as she looked down to Dante who was still trying to tug his sister forward

"Come ON! It's c-c-cold!" Dante whined and shivered a little, making Aqua giggle at his comment.

"Hold on one second Dante" she said as he sighed then stopped trying to drag her forward and walked back with her to Terra, who had already taken down one dummy and tore it apart. He didn't do it because he was told to, he just wanted to take out some anger he had toward his father on that one training dummy.

"Stupid jerk, trying to control me and make me like him…." he said under his breath then took another big swing at another dummy and broke it in half. Both Dante and Aqua gasped when they saw him express that much of his power. They made his ears prick up as he turned to see the two behind him and staring at him weirdly

"Uh something wrong Aqua?"

"Huh? No no nothing it's just that it just seems like you'd be out here for awhile in the cold just doing this" she said as she looked at one of the dummies

"Yeah I guess…" he said as he shivered and rubbed his arms "…but if I don't do it then…. Well you saw didn't you?"

"Yeah I know, but…" she said as she handed Dante that wooden keyblade he found and then she drew out her keyblade which made Terra raise a eyebrow. "…he didn't say how you should do it" then she rushed up and with a couple quick hits brought down three of the dummies. Then Dante following her lead ran and jumped on a dummy causing it to fall over as he beat it with his wooden toy. Terra chuckled, originally he was going to beat up the dummies by hand. But if he did that he'd be listening to his dad's order and that didn't float his boat. So with a quick swing he extended his hand and drew out his keyblade.

"You are completely right Aqua" and with that and a quick swing across four dummies, a smile went across his face. All that rage, all that resentment, just went away in one big swing as he, Aqua, and Dante continued crushing those dummies till there was nothing but wood chips and fake metal on the ground. Once it was done all three of them smiled proudly at their handy work (mostly Dante) as they wiped off the few little sweet droplets that formed on their heads.

"I think we should go in now…" Terra said a little exhausted. He had been through tougher training but having fun really tires you out. "…besides I'm getting hungry" Dante looked to Terra and smiled as he rapidly nodded his head

"Yeah let's head back to the castle already!" then he ran off toward the castle leaving Aqua and Terra alone giggling as they slowly made their way to the castle.

"Your brother is really silly Aqua"

"Well what do you expect he's just a boy" Aqua said as they both watched him try to run up all the stairs to the door. But he only got a third of the way up before he had to stop and fall on his knees to get his second wind. That made Terra strike a grin, not because it was funny but because…

"You know I always wanted to have a little brother…" he said as Aqua looked at him asking him why. "…I don't know I think it'd be cool. But still I'm lucky with the people I already have in my life" he said then looked at Aqua with a smile. Aqua felt a little embarrassed by that and had to hide some of her face behind her hand to make sure he didn't see her blush. Terra did a short chuckle at that just as they got a third of the way up the stairs and looked at Dante who was still catching his breath.

"You ok little buddy?" he asked as he knelt down and helped him up

"Yeah yeah…huff...just can't breathe…" Terra chuckled then picked him up

"HEY WHAT ARE Y…?" Dante began to say before Terra put him on his shoulders and whinnied. Aqua couldn't stop herself from laughing as Dante realized what Terra was trying to do. Playing along he pointed his finger forward and yelled out

"HI HO TERRA!" Terra whinnied one more time before galloping his way up the stairs quickly making Dante shift around on his shoulders. He didn't mind the cold that was rushing onto his face, because Dante basically felt like a small ball of heat on his back. Aqua kept giggling as she watched Terra and her brother rush up the stairs. Then without warning she started running up the stairs with them yelling out

"CAN'T CATCH ME!" that brought grins on both the boy's faces as Dante pointed out his finger and retaliated back

"WE'LL SHOW YOU! GIDDYUP TERRA!" and with that Terra kicked into to overdrive to catch up to Aqua, making Dante rattle around even more.

Aqua kept running forward making Terra eat her dust with a big grin on hsd face and equally big one on Terra's and Dante's. Neither of them could remember the last time they had this much fun doing something silly like this. so they enjoyed every second of it up until they reached the door. Both of them, in a split second between each other, had laid their respective hands on the door both proclaiming that they won.

"No I won" Aqua started as Terra looked at her and shook his head

"No me and Dante won"

"No I won"

"No we won"

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"Yes!" Terra said with some attitude, getting a little carried away. Then Aqua retorted back with the same attitude

"No!" and they went back and forth for awhile before Dante yelled out

"WILL YOU GUYS JUST OPEN THE DOOR ALREADY?" that made Aqua and Terra stop in mid word and look at each other with embarrassment written all over their faces as they both said simultaneously

"Sorry got carried away" then they looked each other again with even more embarrassment as they laughed a little from that. All while Dante laid his chin on his hand and shook his head

"Oh brother" then when their laughter faded down Terra opened one side of the big two door entrance to the castle and gestured his hand forward.

"Ladies first" that made Aqua chuckle as she did a short bow and said

"Wow what a gentlemen you must be" then she entered the castle leaving Terra with a smile on his face as he silently chuckled. But his small laugh was cut off short when Dante hardly patted him on the head

"Hey! Did you forget that it's freezing out here!"

"Alright alright already" then he stepped in the castle and set Dante down and let him run off to who knows where as he watched Aqua walk up the rest of the stairs. Then he began to wonder

Aqua was like a sister to him since the first day that his master brought her here. So up until quite recently he never thought of her as more than a friend and classmate. But now she seemed different, but in a good way.

**I just want to thank my reviewers and alerters, seriously without you guys I think I would have stopped this idea after chapter 3. So really thanks and keep the reviews coming**


	17. Oh so close

**Meanwhile in Ven's room**

Ven was talking to Des, and laughing almost every other minute at what she said.

"… yeah and that's not all, he kept that same stuffed monkey till he was fifteen and slept with it like every night" that made Ven blow a gasket as he erupted into laughter

"Wow… ehhehheh… I can't even imagine Terra like that" Ven said as he tried to calm himself down

"Yeah I know" Des said as she laughed at some memories of Terra carrying that stuffed monkey around town and acting like it was alive. Then a question rose into her head and came out almost immediately after she thought it

"So Ven you have anything like that?"

"What do you mean?" surprised at how left fielded that question seemed

"I mean like how Terra has that stuffed monkey back home or like I how I have this…" she said as she dug in her pocket and pulled out her wallet and opened it to find a wrinkled old picture that she showed to Ven. He looked it over and could clearly identify the people in it. But never the less he felt implied to ask

"That's you and Terra right?" Des just responded with a nod as she looked at the photo with him

"Yep, that's him when he was 7 and me when I was 5" she said as Ven kept looking at the photo. It almost brought a grin to his face when he saw that even back then Terra looked muscular. The picture also had her mother in it holding her two children with a small smile, but then Ven noticed something odd

"Where's your dad in this?" that made Des get a little irritated, even the mention of that man would make her mad

"Gladly he wasn't there when we took it" she said stressing a lot of anger on the word gladly.

"Why?"

"I don't know he had some kind of fight or something?" she said getting a little aggravated by the fact he wanted to stay on this topic. But Ven wanted to prod deeper into this

"That's not what I meant. I meant why were you glad that he wasn't there?" Ven asked but didn't get a answer immediately. But he patiently waited for her to say something while she held a mad look on her face, he really couldn't take a hint.

The subject of her father wasn't something she liked to review. He was a pig, monster, and all around bad person. One of the main things she hated about him was how he treated Terra and her when they were growing up. He basically treated Terra like a puppy to be trained, but not the casual go get a ball and sit tricks. Oh no it was the jog 10 laps then you might get a treat if you win the derby tricks that he made Terra do. As for her, he just said one phrase that would forever be etched into her memory

'I hope for your sake that when you grow up, you were as hot as your mom was back in the day' she couldn't remember when and why he said that all that she knew was that he did say it, and that was enough to hate that pig for her. Who says that to their daughter?

"Well?" Ven asked getting a little impatient at this point. Des thinking on her feet just made something up so he'd stop

"He really… smelled that day…yeah" she said then gave a embarrassed smile, knowing that this was possibly the worse lie in the history of existence. And she was right because Ven didn't buy it, but he finally realized not to ask any further.

"Oh really? Did he smell worse than he does right now?" Ven asked jokingly as Des was shocked that he actually took her excuse. So she did a short laugh because of how stupid that seemed to her. Ven put on a small smile on as she laughed, for some reason he really liked it when she did.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked while looking at him weirdly

"Who me?" he said as he pointed to himself

"Yeah Ven who else is in this the room but us?" she asked sarcastically as Ven got a good idea on what to say back

"Oh just you me and the monster that's under my bed" Ven said in a stupid happy tone while Des just looked at him curiously not sure if she heard him right.

"What?"

"I said just you me and the monster under my bed" Ven repeated as Des laughed a little.

"What?" Ven acting coyly asked as Des calmed herself down

"Oh nothing, it's just… your so funny" she said letting out a couple chuckles at the end, and with her noticing Ven did that same smile that started this. Which Des noticed and pointed towards

"RIGHT THERE, that same smile" Ven stopped smiling and backed his head away from her finger.

"What I wasn't smiling" he said trying to hide it, but it was a useless effort at this point as a devious smile went across her face.

"No you did, all I want to know is why."

"I uh…" Ven said as a slight shade of red went across his face, making it apparent to Des that Ven was either embarrassed to say it or he felt something towards her or both. So Ven knowing that she wasn't going to drop it just said it "… like it when you laugh, it makes me feel kinda weird inside" Ven said looking down at his bed, wishing this was a dream. Because this to him was weird, only because he didn't know how he should feel because his head told him he should be embarrassed while his heart was screaming to embrace the feelings and tell her how he felt.

Des just sat there on her knees, debating to laugh or say something. Because she thought if she laughed at that it would make him smile and feel that weird feeling that she knew he was talking about but it might also backfire making her seem kinda stuck up for laughing at him telling him about his feelings. So she decided on her second option

"Awwww Ven" she said as she wrapped him in hug and accidently made something jolt inside his heart. Ven shortly gasped as Des wrapped her arms around him letting him take her all in, and he liked it. It brought a smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around her making her grin. They hugged each other for a good five minutes before they slowly separated and looked at each other. Ven took a deep look into her clear turquoise eyes and felt like staying in their shimmering beauty forever. While at the same time Des stared into Ven's dark blue cerulean eyes, seeing all the happiness behind them and loving it. Then with both of them lost in oceans of royal blue, they didn't even notice that they were slowly leaning forward into each other.

**Meanwhile in the hallway outside Ven's room (**here we go again**)**

Evy was walking down the hall to Ven's room, eager to see him. She thought that Des was still hurt from earlier today and that she could get some face to face time with Ven. But all those thoughts faded away the instant she heard

"Awwww Ven" she stiffened up when she heard that. She knew who that was and got kind of angry when she heard her.

"Des" she said in a silent growl as she peaked inside Ven's room to see her hugging Ven and eventually him hugging her back. She gasped and growled at the scene she was watching.

'why does he like her so much!' she thought angrily as she saw them separate then just sit there, doing nothing for a brief second before they started to slowly converge on each other.

She gasped as she quickly picked a button off her shirt and flicked it into Ven's room, aiming at Des. She sliently snickered as she backed away a couple feet from the door and let everything unfold

While back in Ven's room, as the couple were on the verge of their first kiss together, something out of nowhere wacked Des hard on her left temple

"OW" she yelled out as she separated from Ven and rubbed the side her head while repeatedly saying ow, ouch, and small grunts.

"Woah Des you okay?" Ven asked as he tried look at the side of her face being covered by her hands.

"Ow not really I feel like something hit me on the side the head"

"Ouch…" Ven said as he laid his hand over hers and gently pulled them away from her head "… here let me see" he said as he took one of her hands off her head and inspected the newly formed bruise that was shaped like a really big grain of rice.

'Ow is right' Ven thought to himself as he looked at it and gently touched it once, making her sneer. Ven slightly gasped then drew back his hand

"Sorry"

"No it's alright" she said as she let him continue. With one last look Ven could deduce that this wasn't serious

"It doesn't look that bad, it should be gone by tomorrow"

"Oh that's good" Des said just being happy that Ven cared about her enough to check

"But in the mean time this might help" Ven said as he gently kissed the bruise, making her go wide eyed and short of breath. Ven then recieted back to his regular sitting pose and looked at her with curiosity

"Uh Des?" he said as he waved his hand in front of her face, failing to snap her out of her trance.

"Des!" he yelled out as he shook her a little bit, making her snap out of whatever she was in.

"Huh?"

"You ok?" Ven asked as he looked at her a little.

"Yeah, it's just you kinda took me by surprise"

"What you mean the kis…" he began to say before his door opened and revealed a semi happy Evy.

"Hey guys"

"Hey Evy, need something?" Ven asked just to be friendly

"No but Des your mom is looking for you" Evy said as she looked at the big bruise on the side of Des's head, making her happier because of a job well done. Ven groaned when he heard that

"Aw… well I'll see you later Des" he said as he hugged Des and wished her good night and she as well to him. Evy silently growled to herself until Des parted from him and left the room. Leaving the both Evy and Ven alone

She just stood there in his door while he just laid in his bed, just wanting to go to sleep. But he noticed that Evy was still here

"Uh do you want something Evy?" He asked as Evy shook her head

"Nope just wanted to see if you'd like to talk"

"Uh… not right now…" he said with a yawn rolling of his words "… I'm pretty tired I just want to go to sleep"

"Oh ok then good night…" she said politely as Ven lazily waved his hand. Before Evy left, she peaked her head into Ven's room one more time and said "… you know there's other people to hang out besides her" she said, trying to show no hint of dislike toward Des and gladly Ven didn't pick any up. In fact he thought it was kind of weird that she would say that.

"Yeah I know"

"Ok just wanted to say, bye Ven" she said then strutted down the hall

"Yeah bye…" he said awkwardly as he looked up to his ceiling.

'Why did she say that?' he thought before he went to sleep and everyone else shortly after following him.


	18. Dinner and a show

The day started normally, people rushing to the bathrooms first then going about their business for the day. Aqua spent a majority of her morning with Dante in the simulation room playing various levels of the game. Aqua to greater view of Dante's prodigy nature with weapons and fighting while playing with him, beginning to make her wonder even more…

Terra spent his morning with his mother and sister, purposely excluding his father not like he would of come anyway, walking outside in the thick blanket of snow. He showed them the area's where he would train (only showing not taking them directly there) and would relax. His sister loved the beauty of this world and couldn't get enough of it. While his mother became more and more proud of her son, loving how much he had matured away from the things his father tried to make him. She was so proud that he was his own man now

Ven spent his day helping his master finish up on the last details on the dinner feast. His main was just to put things in the over to slow cook or light them done with a firaga. He left all the additional seasoning and last minute fixings to his master, since he was more of the cook type anyway.

As for Aqua's mother she was wrapping the gifts she had bought for her children and the last minute things she got for Terra and Ven. She could barely wait to see Dante's face on Christmas morning when he would see what she got him. Quite frankly she was amazed she even got it her without Dante noticing. She wasn't wrapping alone, Evy was with her. Though she would of rather have been with Ven instead.

Around five, Ven and his master began to set up the table. Ven setting up the silver wear and plates while his master set out the food and pitchers of various drinks

"Well that's done, should I go get everyone master?" Ven asked as his master shook his head

"No Ven I think I shall" he said as brought out his keyblade and held it so the tip of the was right under his mouth. Ven looked curiously at what his master was about to do

"Terra, Aqua…" he said, his voice reaching both his students telepathically. They both immediately stopped what they were doing and stood to listen "…dinner is ready, so if you could please come down with you families to the training room" Aqua and Terra nodded as the ceased what they were doing. Terra telling his mother and sister that dinner was ready and them following him back to the castle without question. Aqua quickly wrapped up the game with Dante and picked him up to hurry to their mother's room to inform them of dinner, making sure not to go in and not ruin Christmas morning. The two families were now heading to dinner, and unfortunately Terra's dad came to. Terra accidently bumped into him on the way back in while he took off his snow stuff, so he had to deal with his father's sickly sounds stressing how hungry he was.

They all arrived to the dining room and each found a place to sit. Evy tried to get a seat next to Ven but the only seats next to him were being occupied by Terra and Des, which really made her mad. As much as she would've liked to kick Des out of her seat, she had to keep up her regular non threatening self for her family… at least for now. So she took a seat next to her big sister who was holding their little brother in her lap with their mother in the seat next to her.

On the reverse side of the table Ven was sitting on the near far end next to Des while Terra sat next to his mother. And next to Evy at one of the table's end corners was Terra's father, who picked that seat to be next to Eraqus. The table was covered in Silver containers that contained the delicious meal made by the two mother's, Aqua, and Master Eraqus. And speaking of him, he stood at the end of the table and humble smiled at everyone and began to say

"Greetings my students and their families, I must say that it is a great pleasure to have you all here on this Christmas eve. But before we enjoy this delicious meal created by the two beautiful mothers of the hour…" he said then gave them both glances as they returned them with a smile to say thank you. "… please let us say grace" everyone then bowed their heads and put their hands together.

"God bless the meal we are to enjoy and bless my students and their families for the future that is to come" he said as the man next to him just went fot the food. He opened his right eye and saw Terra's father beginning to dig into a big turkey leg

"Excuse me"

"Oh you're excused" he said as a response and continued to eat. By that point Terra, Des, and their mother were glaring at him for ruining the grace. But he didn't care and just kept stuffing his face. The master just sighed then looked to everyone and sighed before putting a smile back on

"Amen, now let us eat"

The Instant Eraqus said those words everyone dug into the wondrous feast before them. Terra went for the turkey first and loaded his plate with mash potatoes and stuffing, the same as Destiny and his mother. Aqua didn't get her food first; she decided to help her mother by preparing a plate for her Dante. While Ventus on the other side of the table was trying to maintain his manners, so as to not make Des think he was a pig. While on the other side of the table next to Aqua was Evy who was hiding a look of disgust as Terra's dad really stuffed his face, little bits of his food falling a inch or two off his plate.

For the first couple of minutes everyone just ate, occasionally throwing a complement to the two mothers and Master who made the meal and shooting a glare at the man who had the worst table manners or just manners of anyone in the universe.

"What?" Terra's dad asked with food still in his mouth as Des looked at him

"Dad can you please close your mouth when you eat" he just did a short chuckle making a few tiny chunks of food escape his mouth making everyone a little sick.

"What you don't like 'see' food?" he asked sarcastically then continued to pig out, while everyone else pushed their plates forward.

"So…" Master Eraqus began to say, trying to divert everyone's attention from the 'elephant' in the room. "… Terra, Aqua why don't you show your families what I've taught you in these 3 year short years"

"Yes master" they both said in unison as they stood up and walked away from the dinner table for some room. Gladly this room was initially used for training not dinning so it was it was fairly big. Normally they ate in the kitchen or in their rooms

"You can go first if you want" Terra whispered to Aqua as they walked away from the table, she just shook her head

"No you get it out of the way first, I know how much you like being with your mother and sister" she said as they both stopped then turned around.

"Yeah but… your magic is a lot like you, amazing" Terra said followed by a grin that made Aqua blush a little bit. From the table both of the mothers could see the small awkward and silly gestures that told them there was something between them, and it made them laugh.

"Whenever you two romantics are ready" Master Eraqus said snapping both Aqua and Terra into line. Aqua took one step forward as Terra took one step back, focusing all eyes on her.

First she drew out her keyblade in a dazzling display of light and sparkles that mesmerized everyone but Terra's father. Then she charged up a chilly blue aura at the end of her blade that she swung to the ground and then with grace she began to spin in a figure eight forming a medium sized solid ice eight on the ground. Just as she finished it in the center of the eight she jumped into the air and let the rest of the aura out, forming a giant snowflake ice carving that showered down small amounts of pure white snow. And to finish it off, Aqua landed in front of the sculpture and with one quick swish of her keyblade produced a small gust that made the snow swirl around the sculpture. The room began to echo with the sounds of clapping and cheering over the beautiful performance, Aqua humbly bowed to say thanks then began her return to her seat.

"Aqua that's awesome!" Dante shouted out as he tried to whistle with fingers, only spittle and air coming out.

"Dante stop you're getting spit everywhere" his mother said as she took his fingers out of his mouth. Aqua soon got back to her seat and smiled at Dante, and he smiled back her.

"Thanks for the complement little guy" Aqua said then tussled his hair making him giggle. Then all eyes laid on Terra as he took two steps forward and drew out his blade. His father actually stopped eating to watch his son, only because he wanted to know what kind of ridiculousness the nut next to him taught him.

"So what did he teach you? The waltz?" his father insulted as Terra took in a deep breath and let that comment bounce off him. This demonstration was more for his mother and sister than that monkey he called a father. Terra began by slowly raising his blade into the air, building up a yellowish brown aura at the end of it as he did. Then when his blade finally stood erect to the ceiling he slammed it back down abruptdly making a giant earth pillar appear causing him to release his grip and let his blade rise with forming pillar. Terra then quickly started to claw his way up the pillar for his blade that he yanked out pillar when making it to the top. Causing the pillar to begin to crumble down to tons of tiny pebbles that cascaded like a small avalanche that Terra rode down on his keyblade like a snowboard. When he reached the ground he kicked up his keyblade then quickly swished it across the pebbles that started to roll up on one another forming solid rock like figures that when completed looked like stone Terra's in his classic fighting stance equal to his height. Then with another quick slash he made them rush toward him with their stone keyblades pointed out to him. Terra braced himself for them as he cocked his keyblade back, then with one powerful slash reduced them down to the same rubble from wince they were made from before they could hit him. He took one deep breath to keep his heart rate down as his keyblade vanished. Everyone minus his dad started clapping up an uproar as he turned around and in the same manner as Aqua took a bow.

"Terra that was incredible" his sister said as he rose back up and headed back to his seat where once he was seated was welcomed back with a kiss from his mother.

"Mom" Terra said embarrassingly as he rubbed the kiss off his cheek

"Oh don't be a baby, I'm just so proud of you" she said as she gave him a hug.

"Well thanks mom" he said humbly as he returned the hug making everyone go aww. Everyone, minus the man who had his arms crossed at the end of the table.

"You know I have to give you props…" his father said as everyone looked to him. "…that must've taken a lot of special effects to make all that that happen" Terra immediately shot him a glare, his father just loved to make him feel down.

"That wasn't a special effect it was Real"

"Yeah right and I can turn into a giant purple elephant by just wiggling my nose" he said with a chuckle as his son just kept a fierce glare on him.

"Sir if I may be so bold…" Master Eraqus began to say as he gave Terra a look to tell him to draw back his glare. "… that was no manner of smoke and mirrors, it was real and you know it was. Because how could earth appear out of a solid wood floor?" he said pointing out the fact the floor was one solid piece of wood made from the same magic that Terra and Aqua use.

"Pssh whatever" he said then went back to eating, still not believing in any of that. Master Eraqus could clearly see that to, but instead of pushing this into a situation he took what solace he could out of the fact that his mouth was finally shut, for the most part.

Terra had calmed his glare and just went back to eating his food while his sister and mother did the same, feeling a little embarrassed because of the jackass they called a father or husband. Aqua and her mother looked at them from the other side of the table and felt sorry for them, even Ven felt the same while he nibbled away at his food. Soon enough the casual conversation resumed, stuff like Aqua telling her mother about the other stuff she learned from her master or Des telling Terra what has been going in their home town. Even Evy talked, mostly just failing at attempts to try and relate to Ven

"So do you like music?"

"I don't listen to much"

"You like movies?"

"Haven't seen many"

"You like TV?"

"My master won't let me watch any" Evy cocked her head to the side and asked

"Why's that?"

"I don't know" Ven was really starting to get irritated by all her questions. He would never say out loud but he didn't like her. Granted Ven was always the happy go lucky who would always give people chances to be his friend. But to him her questions were just starting to get annoying and he really didn't want to keep talking to her if this was all she was going to do. He'd rather be talking to Des across the table, at least then he wouldn't be bored.

Thankfully Evy ran out of things to ask, leaving Ven to look at the girl who was looking back at him with the same funny look in their eyes that only young people in love could have. This caught Terra's attention, it was really hard to miss. He could only chuckle at the fact that his sister liked his best friend, he would have never expected something like this ever happening. Not that he minded, if she liked Ven then he was alright with it because he knew wouldn't try to do something funny. So instead of saying something to his sister about this, he decided to just finish off his food and let them keep making gaga eyes at each other.

As the dinner ended, most of the boys just slugged back in their seats with their stomachs distended. The girls however weren't pigs like the boys and ate within their limits. Mater Eraqus was sitting up straight in his seat, he always made sure that he showed his manners and patience when around company. He finished the last bit of his drink to wash down what was left of the turkey he ate, before he looked to the mothers and said

"That was a truly marvelous feast" he said with a humble smile that thd mothers both smiled back at

"Well your quite welcome sir" Aqua's mother said

"Yes but you did the last minute additions, we should really be thanking you" Terra's mother said making Eraqus nod to say thanks.

"Turkey was kind of dry" Terra's dad said, picking his teeth as he did, getting a glare from his wife which he just ignored. No one responded to what he said, knowing that if they did it would probably escalate into something worse that no one wanted, especially on the holidays. Then just before a awkward silence could begin, the situation bells began to ring from the front room. Eraqus and his students all stood up in near unison because of what they knew they signified.

"What's that?" Evy said as she covered her ears along with her mother and everyone else at the table besides the residents of the castle.

"It's nothing. Terra, Aqua please come with me…" Their master told them then turned to his youngest pupil "…Ventus if you please, will you entertain our guest in my absence?" Ven did a quick nod for a answer as his master looked back to his guests "Please pay no mind to that, we shall be right back" and with that Eraqus gestured his students to follow him and in a rush exited the room.

In no time at all the three were in the entry room in front of the throne that their master sat on. He halted his students before he continued any further, once he was assured that they were still he continued his walk to the stone behind his throne. Leaving Aqua and Terra alone

"So what do you think is going on?" Terra whispered to Aqua who did a short shrug

"I don't know, maybe it's Master Yen Sid calling for him"

"Or maybe something is going on with the worlds" Terra said assuming a worst case scenario. Aqua just shook her head at him

"No I don't think that's the case, even if Master Yen Sid isn't doesn't have the keyblade anymore he could still handle quite a bit on his own"

"Well…" before Terra could get another word in their master returned to them with his signature blank expression.

"That was a dear relative of mine" he said as he took in a deep breath, almost like he was trying to hold something back. Both Aqua and Terra noticed and asked him out of concern

"Master is something wrong?" They asked as their master looked to the ground of his castle.

"No, it's just…" he said as he rose his head and started to walk to his students till he stood directly in front of them. "… I need to leave for a short while; I should be back before Christmas day has ended"

"Um Master if I may be so bold, has something occurred?" Aqua asked knowing very well that she most likely wouldn't get a answer.

"Something has occurred within my family that requires my immediate attention" He said telling both of them to not press him any further for information as to not get him upset. So in place of saying anything they just nodded and stuck with their master till they were outside and down the steps of the castle. Then Eraqus pressed down on his shoulder guard behind his cloak and summoned out his samurai like armor in a burst of light. He took one quick step around and looked at his students and said this

"Now farewell my pupils, I shall be back" he said humbly as he gave them a bow that they returned back. Then their master threw his keyblade into the air and watched it transform into a bike kind of like Terra's. He then bursted off in a rush, as he began to climb higher and higher into the sky, aiming for a portal that his keyblade opened while it was up there. He took one last look down to his castle and saw his students waving goodbye, to which he did a short finger salute then finally left castle. But while all this went on, in one of the many windows stood a muscular figure who seemed to be chuckling wickedly

"Finnaly that pussy's gone…." Then his head slowly swayed over to his son who was climbing up the steps with Aqua, or to him that blue haired chick. "… I'm going to make you come back with me wether you like it or not, Terra"

**Wow this chapter was long**


	19. Prelude to the Showdown

Aqua and Terra stood outside of the castle for a couple minutes after their master left, just watching the snow fall. It was exceedingly rare that their master would leave them all alone, but it wasn't they couldn't manage without him for a day or two. What he must've left for had to be really important otherwise he would've shown some hesitation in leaving his students and their families alone.

Terra was the first to break his gaze to the skies, then he nudged Aqua out of hers.

"Hmm?" Aqua asked as she looked over at Terra who gestured his head to the castle and said

"Come on, we'll freeze if we don't get back in" Terra said then started to head back with Aqua up the tall stairway to the castle.

"What do you think happened?" Terra asked, trying to make some small talk with his friend

"I don't know, he said it had something to do with his family. Maybe someone is sick?" she said not noting death as a option because the last thing anyone would want on their mind during the holidays is death. Though it would be terrible if that's the case for their master

"You might be right, I always got worried when my mother got sick" Terra said as he shivered, now that he thought about it, it wasn't really the brightest idea to come out here in just his regular clothes. He began to shiver even more as the brisk cold winds passed by him, causing his teeth to chatter getting Aqua's attention. She chuckled a little before she wrapped one of her arms onto Terra to give a little bit of her body heat. At least she had enough of a conscious mind to where her jacket.

Terra didn't say anything for the entire way up the steps, he was too lost in the fact that this was the longest time that Aqua had held him beyond a hug or helping him with his gestures during spell practice. Terra tried to act as nonchalant as he could to not show any form of his embarrassment/enjoyment to Aqua. But Aqua could see it anyway; it was a pointless effort due to all the red on his face.

**Meanwhile in the castle…**

The jerk known as Terra's father hastly made his way to the front doors of the castle. With Eraqus finally gone, it gave him the opportunity to do the thing he had planned to do since that man appeared in front of his door to take him to see his son a couple days ago. The whole reason why he came in the first place

When he got to the stairs that lead down to the doors, he crossed his arms and patiently waited for his son to arrive. He waited what must have seemed like an hour at the top of those steps but in actually it was only a couple minutes, but that's all he needed to organize his thoughts and know what he was going to say.

Silence engulfed the entire room as he waited, till it was disrupted by the sound of the two large doors opening with voices following them

"Ladies first" Terra said, gesturing his hand forward, making Aqua chuckle as she stepped in

"Well well I didn't know you were such a gentleman" Aqua joked at as she and her friend proceeded back to the dining room.

"Well I'm not my father you know" he said jokingly and even got a laugh out of Aqua as they walked up the steps. Then when they reached the top saw two stern eyes glaring down at them, mostly Terra, who had to fear/ hate those eyes over time. Terra's eyes grew angry at the mere sight of his father while Aqua looked at him and immediately knew she'd better get away from this rather than get in between the crossfire they'd produce. She fled back to the room and let them settle this out

Terra glared into his father's eyes, trying to show him the amount of pain he's caused him over the years he lived with him. All the pain, anguish, sweat, and suffering he made him go through, trying to make him into someone worthy to reflect his legacy. His father took in a deep breath then surprisingly put on a smile then walked down the steps to his son.

"Ah Terra I wish to apologize…." That word 'apologize' he wasn't aware his father even knew of that word's existence or even the basic meaning. He stood right in front of his son and laid one hand strangely gingerly onto his son's shoulder, but to him it just felt like his skin was crawling all over his shoulder. "… I'm sorry I've been a jerk. But now I truly believe in all of what your master has been teaching as true and real".

Two thoughts crossed Terra's mind when his father finished that sentence. One, his father somehow got drunk off eggnog or something. Or more likely that he was lying to get something from him. Terra looked into father's eyes and grinned humbly like he truly believed what he was saying was true.

"Really dad?" he said excitedly, putting on a grin to sell this lie better. Then his father grin changed slightly, to most it would seem like nothing. But Terra knew his Dad's poker faces and how he used them.

"Yes Terra, I truly believe" he said with the slightest change in his tone. Again something that Terra could tell from all his experiences with him. Then Terra put his hand on his father's shoulder and rubbed it in

"Oh Dad…" He said with a chuckle that made his father's expression change quickly to a confused look from his son's weird tone. "…you are truly the worst liar I have ever had the displeasure of meeting in my life. By the way nice job trying to sound more literate, it was a decent attempt at trying to make you actually seem like a human being" and with that he took off his father's hand off his shoulder and his own of his and made his way around him. His father being the stubborn man that he is kept his eyes on his son as he made his way up, keeping a now unshakable scowl

"You know you can't escape your destiny, the one I set you…." Terra stopped in his tacks at the top of the steps and took in a silent deep breath, that statement summed up the whole reason why he hated his dad. All he ever did for him was try to control his life and make it into what he wanted. "…now just listen to your father like a good little boy should and stop this shenanigans. You will come home with me and you'll be the fighter that I and your grandfather always wanted you to be" yep that's right his grandpa, the one on his mother side who gave his only daughter to this monster all so he could be his manager, was in on making his grandson into the next rage filled monster just like his dad.

Terra didn't respond he just kept walking back to dinner with one of his fingers raised high into the air for his father to see. Now that boiled his blood, and it also taught him something. That he should never try to use reason ever again, he should just stick to the way he always wins arguments.

"Tomorrow Terra… your days are numbered in this castle…" he told his son, who didn't even give him the slightest bit of attention. The only thing he could think about now, is a little snack for dessert, showing only more he really resented his father

**Sorry for the chapter being so short, but I thought it would be better to cut it off right here. Also since the holiday season is now apon us I'm going to try and finish this before Christmas (no promises though, I don't want to rush through this) which I think I have a good chance of doing since I always work my hardest when I have deadlines. So I hope your enjoying the story so far (if not for any reason please leave the reason why in a review. Feed back is important to me) and I wish you all the best this winter season. I'll see you next time **


	20. A mother's love

Terra made his way back to the dining room, still a little mad at the small argument he had with his father. If he could, he would never see that man again. Unfortunately he can't because of his mother and sister having to live with him. Something that he always thought of as odd was how his mother could even put up with that man. Sure he knew the story of how his grandfather forced her to marry his father, but what really struck him as odd was how she never tried to run away or, a even darker thought, try to end it? He knew he shouldn't think of his mother trying to kill herself as a good thing, but at least she would be free from him and the abuse he put her, him, and Des through.

"Terra" he quickly shook out of his thought and saw his mother with a big stack of plates and pots in her hands that wobbled back and forth with each of her steps.

"Whoa there!..." Terra said as he swooped over to his mom and took all of that weight off her shoulders. "…Here I got it" he said with some struggle in his voice as he got some stability and stood straight with the dishes

"Are you sure Terra, because you sure are wobbling a lot"

"Heh, and like you weren't mom. Besides you cooked it's only fair that I do the dishes" if Terra could see his mother through the dishes he'd see a small smile that shimmered off a little bit of pride. She patted him on the back and helped guide him to the kitchen with ease on both their parts.

Terra put the dishes down by the sink and let out a sigh, he really didn't like doing dishes being that Ven always ducked out on doing it all the time and he always told Aqua that he would do it to be nice. But he's not complaining he's just saying. He started up the water and started scrubbing away the little bits and pieces that were still left on the plates as his mother laid back on the counter and took a long look at her son. He had grown so much in the past couple of years, turning into such a handsome and caring young man, two things his father never was. But he still seemed like the little boy she used to carry in her arms or watch give piggy back rides to his sister. That small smile she had on her face slowly began to grow, and even a slight tear ran down her cheek that she didn't even notice. But Terra did

"Mom something wrong?" He asked as she shook out of her little nostalgia trip.

"Oh, no I'm alright it's just…" she said as she wipped the tear off her eye. "… you've really grown up. You're not my little boy who used to cling onto my leg anymore" they both chuckled at that. That was one of Terra's earliest memories of his mom, cowering behind her leg from his dad.

"Well that might be true but I'll always be your boy" that set off another tear in his mother's eye. This made Terra a little bit concerned as he set down a plate and turned his attention to his mother

"What's wrong now mom?"

"It's nothing…" she said through a sniffle "… I'm just really happy is all"

"Happy about what?" Terra asked as his mom wiped down her eyes

"That you're completely the opposite of your father" to Terra that was the best thing his mother had ever told him. Most of the time he was completely assured that he was nothing like his dad. But at times, when his anger got a little out of hand or whenever he got carried away, he would sometimes hear his dad's voice in place of his. The fact his mother had told him that put some reassurance in him, that he was him and his dad was his dad neither one intermingling with another. Though it would be better if his dad took a hint on how to act by his son's example. He gave his mom a big hug to say thanks, to which she did the same but tried to squeeze him harder. Then he got back to the dishes and even though he told her to take it easy his mom helped him dry and put them away. Doing this reminded them both about a time not so long ago when Terra was still her little boy. After they were done Terra took her to the one place that he knew that she had to see.

"Ok just a little further…." Terra said with his hands covering her eyes. She chuckled at what Terra was trying to do, surprises really do bring out the joy in people. "….and open" as she opened her eyes she looked in awe and happiness at the sight before her. Books, books, and more books on shelves that covered wall to wall in this big domed in room with several windows supplying a little natural light into the room coming from the setting sun. His mother looked in awe at all the tomes of knowledge and great stories that stood shelf for shelf before her.

"Oh my!" she said excitedly as if she was a little girl again. Terra knew she'd love this room, because when she was younger she loved to read all the time. She was and still is very intelligent and loved to use her knowledge to help others. If it wasn't for her father who pushed her into that hell known as marriage to a monster she would've gone into a great career like being doctor or a novelist. That love of reading and knowledge transcended on to her children, more to Destiny than Terra but he still had that same curiosity about the world around him that his mother has. Terra had a small grin on his face, seeing his mother happy made him happy.

"You like it?"

"Like it?..." his mother asked rhetorically with a small laugh as she turned to her son and hugged him "…I love it". Terra hugged back and let it last, the warmth from her hugs was just another one of the few things that he loved about her.

"Ahem…" a noise came from the door and they both looked at the source and found Des smiling with her arms crossed "…aw that's cute…" she said as she walked into the room in awe at the amount of books around her. Terra couldn't help but laugh seeing the same look that his mother just had on her face now on her face. "…wow Ven wasn't kidding when he said this place is big" she said as she softly grazed her hand against the wall of the library, looking at the many books around her as she did. Many of them she had read either on her own, or for school, or she heard from her mother when she was a little girl. She picked up a red book with silver and gold intricate lines on the cover that spelled out the title and bordered the book beautifully. Terra walked over to her and looked over her shoulder at the book, of course it was a classic he and most everyone knew by heart.

"A Christmas carol" Terra said as his sister looked up at him then back to the book

"Yeah, hey remember when mom use to read to us before we went to sleep?"

"Of course I remember I could never go to sleep without a story when I was a kid" their mother sat comfortably in a nice warm chair and already saw where this was going. So she stretched out her hand to her daughter who looked at it questing what her mother was asking till she smiled at her and said

"Here, I already know what you guys are going to ask me" she said then took the book form her daughter and opened it to the first page. Both Terra and Des realized what she was going to do, so they both took nearby seats and set them next to their mother. Terra and his sister listened patiently like they always did when they were kids to their mother reading. To everyone else this might seem extremely childish, but who doesn't like to revisit the little kid they once were in their heart? The dusk setting outside slowly went down to a beautiful night sky that glistened with the snow revealing a endless plain of sparkling snow that laid on the mountains that surrounded the castle.

Terra was completely relaxed now, any negative emotion or feelings he had disappeared as his mother began to finish the story. Then a thought occurred to him as his mother read, when they leave this place they'll be stuck all alone with his father again. Any happiness that they had gotten here would vanish when they go home and have to live with that monster again. He silently sighed as he thought to himself on how he could in some way keep them happy after they part again

'If I had one wish, it would be to put them in another world. Far away from that monster' Terra thought hopefully. But he knew that would never happen, his master wouldn't allow it only because of the rules. He was taught these rules on his first few weeks of training, the one pertaining to his situation was that the residents of other worlds are bound to stay there. Only on special occasions or circumstances can others leave worlds for a short time and only that.

'Well I can always dream cant I?' he thought as his mother finished

"…and then tiny Tim exclaimed 'god bless us everyone!'… The end" Terra did a subtle clap for his mother and then heard a long yawn from Des making him chuckle as he turned his head to see Des in a awkward position ready to sleep. Guess some things never change…

**Ok I am very very very very very sorry that I couldn't finish this on Christmas (**kinda bit off more than I could chew**) but my computer broke and I pretty much didn't have it for about a month. But it's all good now so I'll be trying to get this done asap**


	21. One last heart felt

**This chapter takes place right as Aqua got back to the dining room after leaving Terra with his father. Again wish I could be less blunt… oh woe as me lol. But please enjoy as always**

Aqua quickly made her way back to the dining room as to not get in between Terra and his father. One thing that kept running through her head was how could someone as nice as Terra be the son of such a pig/jerk/ass. He was nothing like him, he is the kindest most thoughtful and caring friend she's ever had so how could he be related to that beast? But a good thing was that he wasn't and probably wasn't ever going to be like him so she didn't think about it that much.

When she arrived back to the room she saw everyone was starting to wrap up dinner and get back to their business before Christmas tomorrow. Ven walked passed her with Des next to him still talking about pretty random stuff. And only a few steps behind them was Evy who held a jealous/mad look on her face. Before her sister went after them, Aqua stretched out her arm and blocked her from leaving.

"Aqua get out of my way"

"No Evy, we need to talk" she said as she laid her eyes on her with a stern look. Evy just rolled her eyes and silently said whatever and tried to push her sister out of the way. Which she couldn't

"Will you just stop and listen?" she said, slightly raising her voice. Evy sighed as she looked at her sister and in a snotty tone asked

"Ok what do you want?"

"Evy stop with the attitude and leave those two alone"

"Why are you telling me what to do your not mom"

"Because if you don't stop acting this way you're going to come off as a real jerk to everyone, and believe me when I say that Dante is already convinced you are" Evy just sighed and rolled her eyes again and said what every teenager would say at least once in that phase of their lives

"Whatever just leave me alone" she said in a huff and shoved her sister's arm off her then walked away

"EVY!" Aqua yelled and was about to run after her before she felt a hand come over her shoulder.

"Aqua let it go, if she wants to act like that then let her" her mother told her while she held a sleeping Dante in one arm and some dishes in the other.

"I know I should but…" she heard her mother let out a sigh and say

"Unfortunately sometimes the hard way to learn something is the only way" Aqua wished her mother wasn't right, but she knew she was. So Aqua did something she rarely did and just dropped it, then she turned to her mother and helped her out by grabbing the dishes. Which were soon taken by the only other person in the room, Terra's mother

"Here I got them" she said while she managed a balancing act with the amount of pots and plates she already had in her hands.

"Are you sure Elise? You look like you're about to tip over" Aqua's mother said looking at her like she was a jenga set just waiting to collapse. To that she just looked at her and grinned while she adjusted herself into a better position to hold the stack of dirty dishes

"Don't worry about me, I'm kinda use to this type of thing. Go have fun with your daughter" she said with a smile. Aqua's mom really didn't want to leave her alone with all that work cleaning all that, but if she was so happy/generous to do so then let her

"Well ok… I'll see you later" she hesitantly said then left the room with her daughter and son in hand

"So are you heading back to your room" Aqua asked as she held the door for her mother

"Oh thank you dear, no actually do you mind taking me to your room?" this took Aqua by surprise

"My room...why?"

"Well I just wanted to see where you've been sleeping is all" she explained, not really seeing a reason why she'd even ask why. Aqua was never one to keep secrets

"Oh… well ok come on it's this way" she said taking the lead. While they walked down the halls, her mother had time to realize how much her little girl had grown. Not just in height or mere measurements but in the way she matured.

'She looks a lot like me now but she acts so much like Arlen. Acting so serious but balancing it out with fun and silliness just like he always did. –sigh- if only you could see her Arlen, how much she's grown from the little girl you use to pick up and play with' she thought while she looked at her daughter from behind and then for a spilt second she could swear she saw the same 5 year old girl that now only lived in her memories. That put a smile on her face as the image gently faded back to the woman that girl became. If only her husband could see their daughter now, he'd be so proud of her of what she's striving to become.

In no time at all they made it to the very oriental and detailed door that lead to Aqua's room. Aqua slowly opened her door and stepped in with her mother who looked around her room. She noticed how much it looked like her old room back home but with a larger window with a better view. Her mother set Dante down on her bed so he'd have a more comfortable place to sleep while she looked around. Aqua sat on her bed, gently stroking Dante's hair as he dreamed, while she watched her mom look around

"Seem cozy enough for you?" Aqua asked jokingly as her mother looked over to Aqua's desk and saw a couple of photos

"It feels very cozy" she said as she perused through the items on her desk. The first was a recent photo. It was a picture of her and her friends all together in the summer. Terra had his arms over both Ven and Aqua's shoulders while Ven flashed the peace sign and Aqua waved. She chuckled at that picture "I can see you get along well with your friends" she said to Aqua who got up and looked at what her mother was looking at

"There more than my friends, there my best friends"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh no reason it's just it seems like your blushing a little right here next to Terra" she pointed out with a grin.

"What? No I'm not it…was j-just cold out there is all" Aqua said with humility written all over her face. Her mother giggled as she put a hand over her shoulder

"Oh come on you don't have to lie to me" Aqua was starting to blush a lot as she tried not to make eye contact with her mother. All this was unbearably embarrassing for her, how would you feel if one your parents knew you liked someone and worse wanted to try to help you. Her mother giggled a little as she directed her daughter to her bed and made her sit down as she did the same, making sure not to stir Dante awake, he gets cranky when he wakes up early. She kept a smile on her face; she swore she predicted she'd have to talk to Aqua about dating and boyfriends one day. "Aqua… you don't have to be embarrassed at the fact that you like someone"

Aqua didn't say anything, she only kept looking at the floor, this was just too embarrassing a subject to her

"Listen love is love and there's nothing to be embarrassed about it. Besides it's only natural that your attracted to that… him" she said simply trying not to say some of her other thoughts about Terra. Now this was way more embarrassing then before, now her mom thought Terra was hot? "… I mean really that perfect waistline, his gleaming blue eyes, and his big sculpted sexy mus…"

"MOM!" Aqua yelled out almost making Dante wake up. Luckly he just shuffled a little bit and grabbed onto his pillow. Once they were sure that he was asleep their mother began to laugh

"Hehehe your just like your dad. Whenever I say anything like that you both blow your tops off"

"Well to be honest it's a little uncomfortable to hear you say stuff like that" Aqua said as she looked at Dante sleeping peacefully nestled between a couple of pillows. He looked so cute and precious as he slept, like a little puppy. "You know what let's just change the subject. So how's Dante at home?" she asked, desperately not wanting a repeat of what just happened.

"Oh, well he's really playful at home and he's really curious about everything. Heh… actually once he took apart our antique clock just to see where the bird went after 12" Aqua began to laugh as the image of Dante doing that came to her mind

"Wow…" was all she could say through her giggles before she took in a breath "… he really is just like dad, always trying to figure out how things work"

"Heh yeah I guess he is a lot like your father" she said with a sigh. Aqua could see she hit something, though she's not surprised she did. The only reason why Aqua didn't cry the instant she found out about her father's death was because she felt like she needed to be strong. Her dad was sick for a long time, almost since Aqua was a little toddler did her father fight with his disease. The doctors only gave him a few years but he fought for at least 4 times longer than that. She needed to be strong, because her father had always told her that he wouldn't be here forever, but it still hurt that he was gone. "Oh…" her mother said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a slightly ruffled white envelope and handed it to her "…here"

"Who's it from?" Aqua asked as she inspected it a little

"Your… father wanted me to give that to you" Aqua took in a quick breath before she quickly opened the letter.

_To my dear daughter…_

_ Aqua I'm sorry I couldn't see you one last time, I really am. I found it hard to believe that the little girl that I and your mother raised became the incredible woman I last saw. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you lighting up flames and making invisible walls. It was truly amazing, you are truly amazing and I'm honored to be called your father. I hope that that master of yours taught you all that you need to know about how to be whatever a 'keyblade master' is. Aqua I want you to know two things one that I want you to help people from all over no matter what…and two that your daddy always loved you. _

_Take care of your mother and sister and your new baby brother or sister_

_Goodbye my lovely daughter… Dad_

Aqua sat there with the letter in her hands, building up tears as she reread the last few lines of the letter over and over again. Then as she set it down in her lap she finally let it all out as she cried onto her mother's shoulder. Only now did it hit her that she would never be able to talk to him again, never be able to hug him again, and never to be able to hear him say how proud he was of her ever again. As she cried and stained the letter on her lap with tears she felt her mother's warm hand come across her shoulder and wrap her into a hug. She cradle her daughter back and forth as she cried, taking in a nostalgic feeling from when she was little. She just sat with her in her arms for a good half an hour maybe more till her tears ceased. She stroked her daughter's hair as her head laid on her, not saying a word. Finding that nothing need be said, because the action of her being here for her spoke louder than anything she could've possibly said. Aqua took in a big breath before she let go of her mother and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks mom" she said as she folded up the letter and put it back in its envelope and set it down on her desk

"Are you going to be alright dear?"

"Yeah –breath- yeah I just need to go on a little walk is all and I'll be ok" she said as she hugged her mother again.

"Yyawnnnn…" both Aqua and her mother smiled and chuckled a little as they looked behind them and saw Dante slowly waking up and stretching. Aqua scooted over to him and patted him on his head

"Good morning sleepy head"

"Yawn… morning Aqua… wait morning?" he asked excitedly and was about to rush out of bed before Aqua stopped him

"Oh no, no it's still not Christmas yet Dante" Aqua said knowing that's what Dante was probably thinking

"Oh…" he said disappointedly as he looked down, dissapointedly

"Hey don't be sad, you'll get to see Santa in a couple of hours"

"Wait I'm gonna see Santa!" Dante asked excitedly as he got a smile back on his face.

"Oh…um…" this was something Aqua couldn't see. She didn't think he'd actually take her so seriously. She looked over at her mother for an answer of how to get out of this but she just shrugged saying 'you're on your own on this'. Aqua said the only thing she really could say "… yeah he's coming here to see you little guy"

"YAY Awesome!" Dante was practically jumping off the walls in excitement. While Aqua began to think about what would happen because of this. He'd probably stay up all night and get really sad when no Santa would come. Though he could just fall asleep and she could fake it but from the look of him it didn't look like he was going to go to sleep any time soon. Oh what a corner she put herself in, because now she'd have to convince one of her 2 friends to play Santa for him. Neither one of them would probably like the idea of becoming 'TerraClaus' or 'SantaVen'. But seeing her little brother smile with glee warmed her heart, so she'd at least have to try. But in the mean time…

"Tickle fight!" she said a she reached for her brother and frantically began to tickle his sides and some of his tummy

"Ahhahahha! Aqua stop!"

**I thought this part of Aqua's ark was actually really touching. Originally I was going to make it about how Aqua loves Terra and how she admits it to her mom but then I remembered this idea for giving Aqua one last letter from her dad and this was more emotional than the other option so I think I made the right choice. The next will be part or Ven's ark and I hope you all will like it. Bye**


	22. Squeezed by the earth

**In Ven's room**

Ven was taking a after meal nap. He was hanging out with Des but accidently fell asleep waiting when she went to the bathroom, which she was only gone for five minutes.

Ven yawned as he stretched out his arms and slowly opened his eyes. But when his eyes were fully opened he started to freak out because something was obstructing his vision

"AHHH I'M BLIND!" he said as he flung his body around and eventually rolled over onto his floor flat landing on his face. "OW!"he slowly picked himself up and noticed that he could see out of his right eye now and also that there was something wavering off his left. He brought one of his hands up to investigate and pulled off a note that was over his eyes. He mentally slapped himself on the head, feeling so stupid for reacting the way he did. The note was from Des and it said that she was going to be with her family till he woke up.

Well since he was awake, he should probably go find her. And that's what he did as he jumped up off his floor and stretched out a little to get loose. Then he put on his trademark jacket and shoulder guard then ran out of his room to his to find his new friend. Unbeknownst to him he accidently hit someone outside his door, he didn't even hear her react to the pain he just caused. He probably didn't hear because of his narrow minded goal, go find Des

**Little hint you might want to remember that little part there for the next chapter**

Ven ran down the hallway leading to the main room of the castle figuring she'd be there, passing the library that he rarely ever went into. As he passed the doors to the vast expansion of books, he could hear a faint familiar voice. So he quickly stopped, causing a very small dust cloud form around the souls of his shoes, and turned to the door with a curious look on his face.

'Who's in there?...' he thought to himself as he pressed his ear on to the door and heard a silk like voice. It sounded a little like Des's voice but at least a octave or two lower than hers. '…wait maybe it is her!' he thought with glee as he was about to open the door but found himself being moving away from the library as he and the door were pushed outwards to the wall causing him to get pressed against the door and wall like a sandwich. He tried to push the door off of him and escape but he was too overpowered by something or someone

"Here ladies first"

'Terra?' Ven thought as he stopped struggling to get out his tight position figuring struggling might make it worse.

"Oh why thank you sir" there was that voice again then the sound of two dainty footsteps

"Heh, when did you become so chivalric?" now he'd know that voice anywhere, it was Des. Which would mean that the other voice he heard in the library must have been her mother. Wow, he didn't realize up until now just how similar they sounded.

"Well 'good will towards men' or in this case women" Terra said as he let his pressure off the door and gave Ven some elbow room. He would've gotten out of the room if he could but how weird would it be to come out of nowhere and probably spook everyone, especially Des. So he was just going to have to wait it out till they were all gone "I'm going to go to my room right now –yawn- maybe get some sleep what about you two?"

"Well I'm going to head back to my room and finish wrapping up your gifts" their mother said with a grin. She couldn't help but think of what their faces would look like tomorrow morning when they opened their gifts. "What about you Des what are you going to do?"

"I think I might just head back to Ven's room, see what he's doing"

"Oouuu making a new friend aren't we Des?" her mother said teasingly.

"Ugh it's not what you think!" she said trying to cover a blush and only yelling at her mother to try and sound tough enough for her not to ask again. But like every mother, with a decent relationship with her children, she saw clear through that rouse like it was made of glass. But just like most moms she knew when not to press into her children's matter's so she just chuckled to herself

"Ok Des whatever" she said as she began to walk back to her room. But before leaving, she patted her daughter's shoulder and told her

"Play nicely…" even though it seemed impossible, if you looked really closely, you would swear that you could literally see anger lines flaring off Des's head. Then she turned and grabbed onto her son's broad shoulder and hoisted herself up to give him a light peck on the cheek to say good night "… and you too with Aqua". Terra's eyes in the spilt of a second went from his regular cherry size to well over the size of dessert plates. Seeing her job done, their mother silently walked away with a grin on her face. Just because she didn't want to probe them for information doesn't mean she couldn't tease them.

So there they were, the brother and sister and the clueless blond boy behind the wide open door to the library. Terra quickly got himself back to normal, or as normal as he could be after that last statement. Why did his mother think he liked Aqua? Well… it's not completely un-true that he had some feeling for his best friend/ classmate and from time to time he did let his true feelings for her peer through his tough exterior. But to assume that he and Aqua were already a couple just… he couldn't even put it into words. Des felt just about the same way about Ven, minus the tough exterior bit. Terra looked at his sister and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Hmm?"

"Uh I'm gonna head back to my room. Say good night to Ven for me"

"Sure Terra I will. But can I ask you something?"

"Uh sure what's on your mind?" Terra asked as he leaned back on the door pushing further into the wall and making are favorite blond hero scream silently in pain.

'Oh god! My lungs feel like road kill!' Ven thought as he struggled to try and push the door off him. Which to Terra didn't feel like anything at all due to the doors thickness and the fact that it barely moved with its and Terra's combined weight pushing toward the wall. Des looked to the ground, blushing, as she began to have second thoughts about asking her brother this. What will he say when she asks him? When she asks this Terra will completely know without a doubt that she likes Ven. Sure he could already infer that there was something between them but there was no facts to back up his assumption. Terra began to give his sister the eye, pressing her to ask her question. She took a deep breath then looked up at her brother

"Terra, has Ven had any girlfriends?"

"Huh?" Terra said not really expecting that exact question. He knew it was probably going to be something about his friend but not that

"Has Ven had any girlfriends?" she said again, still feeling a little embarrassed for asking her brother this. Ven's eyebrow raised up when he heard her ask that. Now there was one word that wasn't in his vocabulary

'What's a girlfriend?' he wondered never hearing this word uttered in this castle for the brief couple of years he's lived here.

"Uh… no. At least I don't think so" He said, not being sure because when Ven got here he didn't talk much about himself or much at all for that matter. And even when he started to talk more he wouldn't talk about his past. His and Aqua's guess for that was that he doesn't remember his past, which is sad when they thought about it. But hey if he couldn't remember his good times then they were going to help make some new ones. Des looked down in slight disappointment; she thought he would have had a more concrete answer.

"Oh…" Terra couldn't stand seeing his sister depressed even if it was only over a little thing like this. So he quickly tried to change the subject "You know I wouldn't look too much into that, Ven's a nice guy who could barely hurt a fly. Trust me I know…" he said remembering the times he sparred with him barely feeling the strikes from Ven's keyblade. That little bit of reassurance perked Des right up and with that Terra knew his job was done. "…ok without further a due I'm going to go get some sleep. I'll see ya later sis"

"Sure see ya' Terra" she said as she watched her brother walk down the hallowed halls and stretch out his neck and back as he did. She sighed as she began to walk toward the still open door. You know what was really difficult for Des to really grasp? It was the fact that she was falling for Ven so fast. At first she only liked him because of his looks, just another piece of eye candy, but then after she got to know him she really started to like him. Then what really made her fall for him is the fact that he listened to her. No one but her mother and Terra sometimes when he was living with them would ever listen to her. To her, he was just like the hero she read about in so many books that would be with the heroine or woman in need and hold her tightly and wipe away any and all tears that would be fall upon her. But that was why she couldn't really believe she was falling for him; maybe she just read too many books and was crossing fantasies with reality. She sighed again as her thoughts whirled through her head, maybe she was just over analyzing everything. She reached for the door and began to peel it away from the wall when almost out of nowhere she heard a faint groan

"Huh?" she quickly moved it faster till it finally closed and looked at the source of that faint sound. Ven was squished against the wall in what seemed to be in awkward positions making Des gasp "Ven, oh my god!" She peeled him off the wall and brought him to his knees and looked to see if he was ok. Before she laid a hand on him he took in a deep breath that practically made her jump back onto her feet. He coughed a couple times as he rubbed his chest

"OW! Have you ever had the wind literally squeezed out of you?" Des shook her head as Ven looked at her and chuckled before he said "it's easy just get your brother to crush you". She chuckled at the spiky haired boy and helped him up.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm good, it would take a lot to hurt me" he said as he stretched out his arms and other parts of his body.

"Well ok… but just out of curiosity I just want to know why were you back there?"

"I uh… got stuck back there"

"How?"

"Well…" He said as he walked to a far end of the hall "… I was just minding my own business when I thought I heard your voice in the library…" then he put his ear next to the library, sticking his tongue out while doing so just to get a laugh out of Des. He loved to hear her laugh "…so when I was listening I was caught off guard and your brother pushed me to the wall with the door…" then he walked over to the wall and pressed himself against the wall and tried make a funny face while he pretended to be squished making Des laugh even more. "… then you got the door off me and here we are" he said as Des clapped at his performance that he humbly bowed to "Thank you thank you"

"Hehe your funny" she said as Ven reached out his hand for her's and helped her up

"Well I try…" he said as he noticed something outside. The very slow setting sun casting there shadows across the hall, signifying Ven's favorite time of the day was close at hand. "… hey it's almost night"

"Yeah… guess time fly's when you're having fun" she said as she looked out the same tall window Ven was looking out of. Though Ven was slowing moving his head away from the setting sun and looked toward a more beautiful sight. Des eventually noticed Ven's wandering eyes and put on a small smile as she swiped back her hair, making Ven grin because of just how cute she looked.

"So… since you were going to just go find me anyway" Des mentally gasped when she heard him say that. If he heard her say that then means that he probably also heard the part of her liking him. While it was hugely implied that she did like him, not just from the kiss they almost shared but also a lot of other little things, she wanted to tell him herself in her own way not like that. "You want to go look at the stars with me? They look really awesome out there" Ven said stressing his love of the stars. Des kept her cool, maybe he didn't hear her say that, and nodded her head and said yes. "Great come on!" he said excitedly as he grabbed her hand, not knowing the electric sensations that he was sending down Des's spine, and lead her to the front room to get there snow coats on. Before leaving for the outside he ran into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of a yellowish white liquid then ran back to her. Tonight was going to be great, not just because of the crystal clear skies. But because he finally had someone new to share it with

**Ah I think I love this couple I made, they're just so cute together in my head. Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've been dealing with a couple things (**personal and school stuff**). But it's here now, next one should be up within the week. So be seeing ya'**

**Also if you hit the blue words under this and type in some nice words then you'll get a cookie. **

**What are you waiting for? Go get your cookie!**


	23. Terraclaus is born

**And now we go back to when Ven just left his room **

Ever the persistent woman Evy was outside Ven's door, waiting for him to come out so she could ambush him and… do something that will make him like her. But as anyone would know waiting is tiresome and she fell asleep a little after dinner.

"Zzzzz…emeh get away from him…zzzz… mmmmhh… mine…" our little female stalker was slumped up next to Ven's door dreaming of protecting Ven from Des like she was some kind of walking disease. Then just when she was about to kiss him in her dream

BAM

She was rudely awaken by the slam of Ven's door as he rushed out his room as fast as he could, never seeing a reason to slow down for anything. When he was a good 20 feet away from his door, it slowly creaked away from the wall and revealed Evy looking squished and in pain. A slow stream of blood began to come out of her nose as she tried really really really hard to not admit to any pain. She took in a couple deep breaths, trying to hold back tears, as she clenched her hand into a fist and tightly shut her eyes. The only thing she allowed to show any pain was in the form of a tiny noise

"Ow" she slowly picked herself up, using the wall for support, and when she was halfway up on feet she felt a big shock of pain finally rush up to her head, breaking her range of tolerance and making her silenty freak out in the hall, putting a hand to her mouth to make sure she didn't attract any attention from yelling. Then to make matters worse, when she retracted her hands from her face she noticed the large amount of blood that had leaked from her nose "…Eeekkkkk! Blood!"

She had a big fear of blood, it just made her skin crawl whenever she even saw a drop even if it was hers. So while she held the ever growing knot in her stomach from coming to surface she quickly made her way to the bathroom to clean herself up as quick as possible. Now if this doesn't scream karma for hurting Des earlier then Evy must be as dumb as Terra's father. Evy ran down the hallway looking at the many doors to the various rooms of this almost warehouse like castle. She got greatly irritated every time she opened a door to not find what she wanted.

"Empty room…empty room…empty room…empty room…empty room! Why the hell are there so many empty rooms!" then she opened up a white door and bursted in to a sight to see. Of all the many room she could've entered, what was the possibility of finding her room?

Everyone looked ro her with shock , worry, and fright at the blood on her face

"Oh my god" her mother said as she and Aqua both stood up off the bed

"Evy, what happened?" Evy was too embarrassed by how this happened to tell them. So before they could even reach out and help her she ran down the hallway again, this time not looking for a bathroom but just running away from her family. Aqua quickly stepped out of her room with her mother holding Dante and called out to Evy to come back so that they could help her but she just kept running away and soon enough disappeared into the maze that is this castle. Aqua quickly ran after her with her mother following her close behind with Dante

"Evy come back!"

"Evy we just want to help you!" They yelled out as they turned corners and kept their eyes peeled out for her. Dante felt like he was in the middle of a earthquake from all the jumping up and down in his mother's arms. If he bounced any faster he was gonna throw up

Evy was running as fast as she could away from the sounds of her family's voices. She'd rather look this stupid then have to explain her actions.

**Meanwhile…**

Our favorite brown haired protagonist was walking down the hall whistling some tune to himself. After listening to his mother tell an old but classic Christmas story all he wanted to do was fall asleep. Not a big surprise, after all his mother did always read to him before he slept when he was little. It was only natural that his body would have almost a instinctive nature to want to fall asleep to the sound of her voice

"Evy!" But that shook him wide awake

"Huh?"

"Come back we just want to help!"

'Aqua?' he thought to himself as he saw someone come around the far corner at the end of the hall and storm right for him. On instinct he quickly got out of the way and watched her zoom past him. 'No that wasn't Aqua… was that her sister though?' he thought as he looked back down the hall way and noticed a treckled trail of something on the ground. He knelt down to one of the many dots on the ground and poked it. It was thick and had a crimson tint. He instantly knew what it was, he'd been around a lot of it at his father's fights

"This is blood." He said as he stood back up" I should go OGFH!" he began to say before something went under his legs and caused him to lose balance and fall on his back. He sneered out in pain as he quickly sat up and saw who tripped him

"Evy! Get back here!" he heard a Dante yell out with the patter of his quick tiny feet following him.

"Dante you get back here!"

"Ugh what the hell hit me? Huh…?" then once again another set of fastly approaching footsteps were coming towards him. 'Oh not again!' he thought as he jumped up on his feet, summoning his keyblade as he did with a angry expression that halted the two coming at him in the dust "…alright what's the big idea!"

"Woah! What's with you Terra?" Aqua asked as she and her mother held their hands up palm flat to their chest to show they didn't mean any harm

"Oh… oh geez I'm so sorry Aqua…" He said blushing red out of embarrassment as he put away his keyblade. "… sorry, it's just that someone came out of nowhere and tripped me and I didn't want to get stomped on" the brown haired man said while rubbing the back of his neck, defiantly had some whiplash going on back there from Dante.

"OFFF!" they then brought their gazes to the end of the hall way to find two people squirming on the ground, almost looking like their wrestling. "LET ME GO YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

"NYH NO!" Dante said as he tightened his grip around his sister's legs and rode through her flailing him around. Both Aqua and her mother gasped before running towards the two wrestling siblings and tried to get Dante off of her. Now Dante would let go if it weren't for the fact that if he did it would send him reaching for the sky.

"Evy stop shaking your legs!" Aqua reasoned with her sister but to no avail. Her sister just wasn't listening. She wouldn't even listen to her mother when she commanded her to do so.

Terra observed this from a short distance that grew ever shorter as he walked over to his friend. Something about this seemed familiar to him… it was like she was going through a tantrum fit… kind of like how his little sister use to go through when she was little. And his mom knew a way to stop her in her tracks that she taught him. Well since he did feel a little embarrassed about what happened just now he felt like he owed Aqua. So right then he gently pushed Aqua to the side

"Here I have an idea" He said as he laid his eyes over Evy, scanning for something specific. Aqua looked at him curiously, wondering what he was doing and she was about to ask before he took a deep breath and drew back his flat hand. Then with a quick flinch he gently tapped her neck, instantly making Evy go stiff and stop. Aqua and her mother gasped yet again as Aqua, seeing the opportunity, grabbed Dante and checked him over

"Are you ok?" she asked him, seeing no physical injuries. He nodded as a response

"No I'm good." He said then he looked at Terra with admiration like he was some kind of super hero "Hey how did you do that!" He asked excitedly as Terra chuckled then knelled down to his level "Well…"

"No, the right question is what did you do?" Aqua's mother asked, angry as she knelt down and looked at her now unconscious, bloody nosed, and now apparently hysteric daughter. Terra knew he was in some trouble now, since he did that without asking, but he didn't panic. He thought that when he explained himself that she wouldn't be as mad

"I'm sorry I did that without saying first but I thought it would help. All I did was hit a pressure point is all"

"A pressure point?" Aqua asked as her brown haired friend looked at her as he looked at her

"Yeah you know. The body is filled with nerves and at certain spots on the body if you hit them just right they cause something to happen to you but don't harm you. All I did to your sister was knock her out into a blissful dream… or at least that's what my sister said happened whenever my mother did it to her" Terra explained and stressed on the fact that he didn't cause any additional pain to Evy. Even though he didn't hurt her it didn't lessen Aqua's mother's anger. She was still a little sore at Terra, only because he did that with little warning, though she was a little grateful that he made her stop. She then picked up her daughter and looked down to her son and egged him over to her side.

"C'mon Dante we're heading back to the room" she told him as he let out a whine

"Aww but mom I want to hang out…"

"Don't make me ask again" She said firmly with a touch of scariness in her tone. Dante and Aqua were both a little scared now, Aqua a little more than Dante because she knew very well how scary her mom could get. Aqua looked down to her little brother and gestured to their mom to say 'Go with her before she really gets mad'. Dante followed his sister's instruction without hesitation, though he still looked disappointed from not being able to hang around Terra a little more.

"Ok mommy" he said then quickly hugged his sister's leg, making her giggle, before scurrying back to his mother's side.

"Thank you Terra but please warn people before you do that next time" she said as Terra nodded then said

"I'll keep that in mind in the future and I'm sorry about that mame" he said one more time so he wasn't on any bad side of her's, only because he could tell from Aqua that he didn't want to be on that. She left him with a nod before leaving with Dante next to her

Aqua stayed by Terra as she watched her mother walk off with Evy and Dante to go clean her off and figure out what happened to her. While Terra rubbed the back of his head and started for his door, which was only a foot or two away from where he was, and opened it

"You alright?" she asked as he turned around at his door

"Yeah I'm ok, Dante and Evy only took me off guard and I really didn't hit anything. So no harm no foul" He said as he walked into his room with Aqua following him in. He only said that so she wouldn't worry, in reality his back was killing him from the fall he took.

"Here let me take a look just to be sure" she said with concern. Terra, knowing that Aqua would just keep bugging him about it, told her alright and sat down on his bed where Aqua sat on her knees next to him and pulled up the back of his shirt and looked for any bruises, first by just looking then by feeling it out

"Ow!" Terra winced out in pain making Aqua immediately pull back her hand

"I think I found it. Don't put any pressure on your right shoulder and you'll be fine"

"Thanks Aqua" he said with a grin as he carefully slumped into his bed, trying not to put much pressure on his shoulder.

"Tired huh?" Aqua asked as Terra nodded with his eyes shut

"Yeah I'm pretty beat" He said with a yawn rolling off his words.

"Do you want me to leave?" She asked as Terra shook his head no

"No you don't have to… Unless you'd rather be with your family?" he asked as he shuffled his way up and opened his eyes to look at his friend

"No I think my mom wants to be alone with my sister for a little bit"

"Yeah I was meaning to ask about that what happened?"

"Don't know… You think that Des did that her?" that caught Terra by surprise.

"What makes you think that?" He asked surprised that she'd even think she'd do something like that to Evy, she hates blood so why would she cause it to come out

"Well I just thought that your sister liked Ven is all and I know that my sister likes him to so…"

"So you think that they fought over him?" Terra asked in slight disbelief. Aqua shrugged her shoulders as a response

"It's like said, I don't know"

"Only because I want to defend my sister, she's not that violent. She's actually scarred of violence and blood"

"Why?"

"Mostly because of my dad" Terra half lied. It was true that his sister's fear of violence did originally come from her scary father with his questionable ways of bringing up Terra. But it was only a small intolerance of it till that one night that almost claimed her life. Since that day she was frightened by the smallest forms of violence, sometimes having little flashbacks to that day. It made

Knowing that anything involving his dad would bring up bad blood, Aqua decided to change the subject. Well now was a better time then never to ask him

"Say Terra can I ask you something?"

"Depends on what it is"

"Well…" She was starting to think of how stupid it would be to ask him for this and maybe him laughing at her for asking. Wait… what is she thinking? Terra wouldn't do that and worse case he'd just say no. So she just went out and asked "…Can you do me a favor and dress up like Santa for Dante?"

"What?" he said with a chuckle rolling off his words, not being sure that he heard her correctly. Immediately Aqua started to panic

"You don't have to if you don't want to but I just wanted to ask because…" Aqua said in a rush as Terra told her to slow it down

"Woah Aqua slow down. I'd be happy to do that for ya" he said realizing what she said was really what he thought she said

"Really?"

"Yeah why not?" figuring it would be a nice thing to do

"Aw thank you!" She said gleefully then wrapped Terra in a close hug and gave him a slight peck on the cheek to really express her gratefulness.

Terra's face immediately turned the color of a ripe tomato in the summer. He was stunned to say the least, so stunned in fact that he couldn't even move his arms to return the hug. All he could do was try to say a simple phrase that came out jumbled

"Mention don't it" Terra said dumbly, mentally slapping himself afterword's

'What are you stupid! You just embarrassed yourself in front of her you idiot!' Terra scowled himself as he watched Aqua let go of him and stare at him. He expected her to say something like 'what was that?' or think there was something wrong with him. Instead she laughed as she asked him

"What was that Japanese?" She said through muffled laughter. He mentally sighed in relief, could've gone worse than that. At that moment, after Aqua got her second breath, she got off the bed and waved bye to Terra "See ya' in the morning, I have to go wrap a couple of gifts for my mom"

"Ok good… oh wait what should I do for the Santa thing" He asked as Aqua peeked her head back into his room

"Oh meet us by the tree at midnight, I'll have him situated by then" Aqua explained as Terra confidently nodded, telling her that he got it. Aqua waved bye one last time before saying

"I'll see you tonight Terra" Then she left, making Terra cave back into his bed and finally get the rest he wanted. Though he wasn't going to completely fall asleep for the night, he still had to put the gifts out for his family under the tree and now have to dress up for Dante. So he was only going to take a power nap, and he was going to take what little solace he could get from it.

**I really have to stop making promises I can't keep. Sorry for the month of no update, I really don't have a excuse beyond laziness. I know that this chapter really doesn't have much to show but its setting up for future chapters. Next chapter is going to be mainly about my favorite couple in this story so be expecting that**

**Well till next time**


	24. It's hard to contain a girl in love

**And now here's chapter 24. Why is it that it took so long to make you may ask? Laziness, lack of interest, other stories, and writer's block a hell of a lot of writer's block (**I miss the days when this story practically wrote itself DX**). But I'm back to finish this so with that all said onto the next chapter**

Aqua's mother had taken Evy back to her room with Dante and cleaned her up. Evy had always been kind of a handful but what happened back there was just beyond strange.

While she cared for her daughter, Dante was bored out of his mind as he sat upside down on a chair. In fact he was so bored that it was starting to tire him out or that might been just because nightfall had finally come.

"Mommy…?" he asked in a yawn getting her attention

"Yes Dante"

"Can I please go play with Aqua? It's boring in here!" he whined a little at the end. His mother simply shook her head

"Not right now dear" she said as she looked back to her sleeping daughter to see she hadn't changed in condition. The thought of something being severely wrong with her because of what Terra did brisked her mind. What if she was in some kind of coma?

Dante let out a sigh as he crossed his arms and pouted away from his mother. His mother is kind a lot of the time but if she doesn't want you to do something she wont budge in opinion, he knew from the couple of times Evy wanted to stay out a little later than she should. His mother sighed as she picked up the wet towel she put on her head just in case that weird outburst was the result of a fever. She noticed it was rather dry, so she got up and looked over at Dante

"I'm going to go wet this up a little bit. Stay here ok?" she asked as Dante gave a nod with smile. She smiled back, he was always such a good listener, then she left for the bathroom. Leaving Dante alone, with his thoughts… and the gifts his mother brought. Which he thought as odd since santa always takes of gifts on Christmas. He didn't think to far into it, he figured Santa just gives all the kids that one gift they really want.

'I hope get a cool blade thingy like Aqua!' Dante thought happily as he looked at the other gifts. All of them had already been wrapped and named to who they would go to. His mother tried to hide them by putting a sheet off her bed on them but he could tell exactly what they were at short glance. He really wanted to see what his mommy got him but he didn't want to chance not getting a keyblade from santa. Afterall he knows when your awake and see's you when you're sleeping. Dante did a quick look around the room and out the closed window.

'I'll just shake them to see what they are' he thought, be fairly confident that Santa at the moment was watching him and got off his chair and started 'peaking' at his presents.

**Meanwhile…**

Aqua's mother was making her way to the bathroom, towel in hand, when she noticed someone exiting it. She knew exactly who it was

"Elise?" she halfed asked already knowing it was very well her. Elise quickly turned around and gave a wave and small smile at her

"Oh hi Claire what's going on?" She asked as Claire finished her way to the bathroom.

"I've been better"

"Really why's that? And what's with the towel?" she asked as Claire began to explain

"Well you see it started when my younger daughter bursted into my older one's room with a bloody nose. We were going to help her but then she ran off…" she went on to explain how they ran after her and how Dante stopped her.

"Wow that's odd, but how did you get her calm enough to get to her to your room?" Elise asked. Actually Claire had purposely left that part for last

"Actually it was your son." She said, making Elise hum curiously "He said he hit a pressure point and that you taught him it" Elise looked shocked when she heard that

"Oh my I'm so sorry I had no idea that Terra even knew that!" She apologized rather fastly. Making Claire have to calm her down

"Whoa whoa it's ok, I'm not mad or anything" she explained as Elise calmed down

"Your not?"

"I was a little at first, afterall he did take me by surprise. But I'm thankfull besides I think that without him I'd still be chasing my daughter around this huge castle, so I'm actually a little thankfull now" she explained as the look of worry that found its way on Elise face disappeared and she sighed in relief

"Oh… alright then. You know for what it counts sorry about that" she apologized knowing that Terra had learned that from her.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. By the way where did you learn that?" she asked intrigued about where someone like her would learn something like that

"Well I like to read and I stumbled upon it in a book on anatomy. Originally I was looking for something to help soothe the pain that Terra would feel after going through that rough house training his father put him through day after day. But instead of finding that I found a knockout pressure point that Knocks someone out for about half an hour or a full hour. Though I barely used it, it was only on occasion that when my daughter needed something to calm her down" She explained, surprising Claire. She didn't think she would actually do that to her daughter

"Don't you think it's a little extreme to do that instead of something else to soothe her?"

"Well… I tried other things but they didn't work as well. And to be honest my husband has never really favored Destiny over Terra. He'd always threaten me about giving her up to some orphanage because of how much noise she would make when she was a baby and a toddler. So in those cases I had to do it to keep her…" She said in a saddened voice that Claire could truly feel. She could image how she would feel if she was almost forced to give up one of her children. She loves more than life itself and wouldn't want them away from her at all.

"Oh my… I'm so sorry" she said as Elise took a breath and forced a small smile

"It's ok it's in the past. So shouldn't you be going back to your daughter?" she asked as Claire remember about the damp towel in her hand and the whole reason she was here.

"Oh yes thanks for reminding me" she told her as she ran into the bathroom and wet the towel. When she stepped back out Elise gave her a wave as she started back for her room, back to her terrible husband. Claire couldn't let her go back to that man. While someone would argue that she only knew half the story between that couple she could plainly tell the way that man acted at dinner and the days previous that he was every inch the monster she described.

"Hey…" she called out Making Elise stop and turn around "…you want to come over to my room and help me with Evy?" she asked striking Elise as odd.

"Why?"

"Well who's to say Terra might've hit the wrong point on her body or something? You mind looking her over?" She asked because the thought of that did breeze her mind in the past hour and a half.

Now the choice was this, either go back to a husband whose been a complete ass to both her children since they were born or go hang out with a new friend who is fun to talk to and might need her help. Truly a easy choice for anyone

"Ok I'll take a look. I actually might now a way to wake her up early" she told her as they both went to Claire's room and talked about random things. Some families were just destined to be friends or united. Terra, Aqua, and their mothers were the greatest example of this. As they approached her room Claire noticed something odd. Her door it was wide open, she clearly remembered closing it and Dante wasn't one to disobey her. Elise noticed the slight look of worry on her face

"Something wrong?"

"I closed that door, and I don't Dante would've opened it"

"Oh don't be so paranoid I bet it just got hot in there and…" she said as they entered her room and both gasped. Evy was gone and Dante was on the ground not moving at all. Instinctivly Claire rushed to her child and checked him over while trying to shake him awake.

"Dante! Dante wake up!" She said as she shook him some more. Elise crouched to her and Dante and did a once over of him. He looked perfectly fine. Then she noticed something as she shook him. There was a faint bruise on Dante's neck that she immediately recognized

"Stop!" She told Claire as she did as told

"What?" she asked as Elise pointed out the first two fingers of her right hand, drew back, and bumped two points on his neck. The next moment he awoke in a fluster

"EVY!" he said in a rush as he struggled to get out of his mother's arms.

"Dante!" she said in relief as she wrapped in a hug

"Mom?" he asked as his mother loosened her hug

"I'm so glad you're ok" she said as she looked over to Elise and mouthed 'thank you' as she mouthed back 'your welcome'

"Mom how did you get here so fast and where's Evy I gotta get back at her for knocking me out"

"What?" both the mothers asked in disbelief

"She knocked me out by doing the same thing Terra did"

"How?"

"Umm…"

**Flashback…**

"So Terra bumped back his hand and hit your neck right there" he told her as he poked her neck and made her sneer in pain. She rubbed her kneck and noticed how precise the bruise was, it was like a dot.

"Yep so that's what happened and Mom just left to get you a wet towel and I'm sure she wants me to make sure you don't leave and GAH!" he said as he fell to the floor after Evy poked in the same area she was by Terra

"Whoa it works…" she said to herself as a devious smile went across her face. A plan was coming to mind, one involving her and Ven and a unconscious Des. So she sweeped her legs off the bed, took off her nose blood stained shirt with something from her mom's stuff and left.

**Now…**

"…I uh don't know" he lied because he was embarrassed that he went down that easily

"Then we gotta find her she couldn't have gotten to far" Claire said as Elise nodded

"You take one side of the castle and I'll take the other"

"Agreed"

"What about me?" Dante asked wanting to be usefull

"You find Aqua and tell her what's happened and help find her" she said as Dante gave a confident nod, he wasn't going to to screw this up like not stopping Evy. Everyone rushed out the door and did what they were told. Claire taking note of one thing as she left

"Gez she even messed up the presents a little"

**Hope you liked the new chapter. Again I can't stress how sorry I am it took this long to get up and that it wasn't a VenXDes chapter as promised. The next will be half that. So yeah hope it was worth the wait and if it wasn't… well sorry**

**Ok R&R if you want, bye**


	25. Tensions rising

The hunt for Evy was afoot yet again. But unlike the first the they had no idea where she had run off to this time. Elise was on one end of the castle and Claire on the other looking for her. And Dante, doing what his mother told him, was running to Aqua's room to get her help. Huffing and puffing he stormed down the hallway while at the same time Aqua was just arriving back to her room after her talk with Terra.

"Aqua!" she heard someone call out her name, making her do a quick side sweep to see who it was, though she could already tell who it was by how pitchy the voice was. Dante quickly stopped in front of her and took in some breaths

"Dante? Where'd you come from?" she asked as Dante stopped his breathing and spoke just long enough to say

"Mommy's room…*cough*" he said then took in another set of breaths while his sister looked at him amazed

"You ran all the way here?" she asked as Danted franctically nodded and kept breathing heavily.

"Mommy needed *breathe* me to *breathe* to…" he tried to say with a sense of ergency in his voice but couldn't through catching his breath.

"Mom what?" she asked as Dante put out his hand and made a fist with his index finger pointing out to tell to wait one moment for him to catch his breath.

Now her master wouldn't codone this, but Aqua couldn't stand seeing her brother like this. So she brought out her keyblade and pointed it at Dante

"Heal!" a greenish aura built up at the hilt of her blade then escaped into Dante, rejuvenating his body then expelling itself above his head, taking the form of a flower as it did.

"Whoa… I feel awesome!" Dante said as he jumped and did a few quick movements. Turns out that casting heal on someone so young gives them a big energy boast. "I feel like I could jump to moon right now!"

"Dante calm down!" Aqua told him, wanting to hear what he had to say. Dante immediately stepped into line, Aqua sounded a lot like their mother and Dante feared the sound of her voice when it sounded serious. Taking a deep breath and restraining himself as best he could Dante let out the message

"Evy woke up and ran off again and we can't find her!" Dante explained as Aqua let out a short gasp

"Oh no"

"I know. Mom and Terra's mom are looking for her now but they wanted me to get you to help too"

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go find her!" Aqua said as she ran down the hallway with Dante tailing close behind her. While Aqua had lived here for years she might need a little more help from someone who knew the castle equally as well. So instead of just jumping into finding Evy she was instead heading to his room.

**Meanwhile**

Terra had woken up from his power nap and was doing some quick stretches in front of a mirror. When he was all loosened up he summoned his keyblade

"Ok I may not be as good at this as Aqua but this should be simple" he said to himself as he got into a calm mood to concentrate. As he did this a goldish aura built up at the end of his blade. He then pointed his blade toward him and and moved it from his feet up to the top of his chest. As he did the goldish aura surrounded him and transformed his clothes into the proper attire for a santa look a like. His red pants sagged a little bit and his coat had a lot of open space between his stomach and the coat. Noticing this he grabbed a pillow or two from his bed and stuffed them under his jacket. He looked at himself in the mirror to make he looked just right "Oh, almost forgot" he told himself as he whipped out his keyblade again and brought the end of it to his face. The aura spread over his face and took shape into a bread and red santa hat. He put his blade away and took one more look in the mirror. "Perfect" he said to himself as he got out of his room and started down the hallway. He felt a really good sense of satisfaction from doing this. On one hand he was making a great memory for Dante and on the other he was making Aqua happy, a win win. That thought of making Aqua happy was helping him make a apporiate smile for the santa act he was about to pull. As he entered the front room he looked at the tree, all decorated and colorful with some presents at the bottom of it

'guess one of our moms set up the gifts' Terra thought as he kept looking at the tree. Then his ears pricked up as the sound of two sets of footsteps echoed down the hallway

"Showtime" he said to himself as he got behind the tree to surprise them. As the steps got louder Terra could tell the time was at hand for him to jump out. He grabbed a random gift and prepared himself to step out into the brightly lights coming off the tree when.

"And I beat you!" he heard Des yell out making him jump back behind the tree

'what's she doing here!?' Terra yelled out in his head. The last thing he wanted was for Des to see him like this. He'd never be able to live down the embarrassment

"YOU CHEATED!" Terra heard Ven yell out as he entered the room

"How did I cheat?"

"I… I don't you know you just did" Ven said stumbling on his words as Des let out a chuckle

"Maybe your just not as fast as you think you are" Des said cockly as Ven took a breath in his defeat

"You just got lucky is all. Now wait here I'll be right back" He said as Des noded and watched him run off.

'what are they doing up it's almost 11?' Terra thought then rolled his eyes when he realized how stupid that question was 'it's Christmas eve who actually falls straight asleep on this night?' he thought as he stood still and heard Des go down the stairs to the front doors. 'Still what are they doing?' he wondered as a loud creak echoed through the room from the opening of the closet down by the door. 'well I shouldn't look to far into it. I mean it's Ven and he hasn't really done anything really bad ever, so I can trust him to be alone with my sister' Terra leaned against the wall and shut his eyes to pass the time for Aqua to come with Dante and to think about other things then how hot the inside of his suit was

**Meanwhile by the front doors…**

Des was getting her jacket and putting it on with her wool hat, getting nice and warm for the cold weather outside. When she was properly dressed she courtesly pulled out Ven's jacket, or what she assumed was Ven's jacket.

'I wonder what he's getting? Probably some hot chocolate or something' she laughed in her head at the cliché but grinned at it 'though it's still nice' she thought as she heard foot steps coming from the stairs behind her. She smiled thinking she knew who it was

"Ok ready to go out DUHNUH!..." Des yelled out as she felt her neck pinch. Then a familiar feeling kicked in, something she had almost forgotten, that caused her to collapse on the ground and pass out.

"That's what you get" Evy said as she crouched down and took off Des's jacket and put it on her along with the wool hat and scarf. She stuffed her blue up in the hat so that Ven wouldn't notice it was her. Now Ven wouldn't know who she really was because most of her face was concealed. When she finished dressing for the weather she quickly pushed Des into the closet and threw a jacket in there on her so she was covered up. Now no one could see her and would think she was just a pile of jackets at the bottom of the closet. "Everything's going good, now he should be back any moment" She whispered to herself. After she got away from Dante she went back to Ven's room and overheard their little get together. When she heard that she quickly concocted a plan to use her new skill to neutrializa Des and get Ven to herself.

When they left his room she followed behind them at a safe distance and waited for the right moment to get Des out of the picture and so far she thought this plan was going good. Then, just as she closed the closet, she heard some loud foot steps echoing down the stairway "Right on cue" she said as she cleared he throat so she could do a impersonation of Des's voice.

"I'm perfect and I can get Ven because I'm a dumb fluesy" she said in a almost spot on match to Des's voice tone. She smilled under her scarf, then a few seconds later Ven was down the steps with a thermas

"Ok I'm back!" he said happly as he shook the thermas "and I got eggnog"

"Cool" Evy said as Ven proceeded to open up the closet. Evy broke a sweat as Ven reached in and grabbed a jacket on one of the hangers instead of the ones on that were covering Des. She let out a breath of relief making Ven look at her

"Something wrong?"

"What? Uh no it's just… a little stuffy in here is all" Evy said thinking on the sly. Ven couldn't put his finger on it but something wasn't right here. Was it him or did Des look a little shorter than he remembered and did her voice sound just the tiniest bit odd. He shook the thought off rather quickly, thinking he was looking to far into something that wasn't there.

"Well then let's get outside it's probably easier to breathe out there" he said quickly putting on his jacket and opening one of the doors for her like a chivalric gentleman. Evy smiled as she thanked them and stepped out of the castle with him.

Just as they left, Terra emerged from behind the tree upstairs

"Finally and now time for this show to roll…" he began to say as he heard another set of twin footsteps coming from down the hall. "… in 5 seconds" he told himself as he let out a breath and kneeled down to grab a present to seem like he was setting one down. He heard the foot steps get louder and louder until… they stopped. His cue had been reached, he grabbed onto the present and stood up and tried to act shocked like a santa clause would if he was caught in the act. Though when he fully turned around he no longer had to act shocked because the 2 people who were there weren't the people he expected.

"Ha he he Terra?" His mother asked as Aqua's mother let out a few chuckles along side her. The only way to describe the embarrassment that Terra felt would be to compare it to a bomb filled with embarrassment next to several other smaller bombs atop a huge bomb labled 'embarrassment' in bold white all going off at the same time.

"W-what are you both doing here?" he asked as they both tried to console themselves.

"We're looking for Evy" Claire told him, trying to get seious but still letting out a small giggle or two at the way Terra looked

"Again? But she should still be out from when I hit her pressure point" Terra said surprised that this happened

"You must have hit it slightly away from the direct pressure point. If you don't hit it dead on then their not going to receive the full effect" Elise explained as Terra looked surprised

"I didn't know that, had I known I would've tried to be more precise"

"It's ok Terra you were only trying to help me and I do thank you for that" Claire said as Terra grinned

"Thanks and your welcome. If you need some help then give me a minute or two and I'll be with you"

"Why you going up the chimey now?" Elise joked at her son making Claire let out a giggle. Terra let out a sigh and rolled his eyes

"Ha ha mom…" he said sarcastically "… actually I'm waiting for Aqua and Dante"

"Huh why?" Claire asked wanting to know what her children were up to

"Aqua asked me if I could dress up like santa for Dante to be nice and I'm guessing make this Christmas a little more memorable for him." Terra explained as both mothers grinned

"Aw that's so sweet Terra!" his mother applauded

"That's really nice of you Terra. Thanks" Claire said as Terra returned her kind thanks with a nod. Then from the opposite hallway they heard another set of footsteps, and this time there was no doubt who it was.

"Oh here they come!" Claire said excitedly as Terra got back into his postion

"If you don't mind could you both please play along?"

"Of course Terra" his mom said as Aqua and Dante entered the room

"Where are we going?" Dante asked as he and Aqua slowed down. No use wasting all their energy in one burst unless they actually knew where Evy was

"We're heading to Terra's room, we're goignt to need the extra help" Aqua explained as she and her brother were about to cross the tree. Terra seeing their shadows knew they were very close. So to alert them that he or 'santa claus' was there he did the classic thing every imitator did to sell the act

"Ho Ho Ho!" Both Dante and Aqua looked surprised when they heard that

"What the…?"

"Aqua did you hear that?' Dante asked as Aqua nodded.

'is it that late already? Bad timing very bad timing' Aqua thought to herself as Terra began to hum a Christmassy tune to lure Dante in, which of course it did. Dante rushed over the tree to see his mother and Terra's mother smiling at their vistor

"Dante look who came" Claire said as she pointed to Terra who turned around and smiled.

"Why hello Dante" he said as he turned around knelt down. Dante took a few seconds to process that this was happening. Then he rushed to Terra/Santa and hugged him and he hugged back

"Santa!"

"Have you been a good boy this year Dante?" Terra asked as Dante franctically shook his head up and down

"Yes I have santa does that mean I get toys this year?"

"Well of course it does my boy, I wouldn't be here right now otherwise" Terra said in a hearty tone as rubbed Dante's hair then set him down. Dante was gleaming happy, this was almost unreal to him

"Aqua Aqua come here!" Dante ordered her as he reached up for her hand and dragged her into view. Terra chuckled and waved at Aqua and she waved back giving Terra goofy smile due to the way he looked.

"Hey Santa"

"Why hello Aqua I know you've been good this year" Terra said as Aqua giggled

"Thanks Santa" she said then looked over to her mother "Did you find her yet?"

"No… and I'm starting to worry" Claire said as she looked down at the ground sadly and disappointedly.

"Hey we'll find her" Elise said laying her hand on Claires shoulder to show support while the other on looked the scene. Dante didn't like what he was seeing, his mother sad wasn't the most pleasant of sights to him and wanted to do something to make her happy again. Just then Dante got a idea

"Santa!" Dante exclaimed as Terra looked down at him

"What?"

"You see people when their sleeping and you know when their awake, that means where Evy is right?" Dante said eagerly to Terra who looked a little paniced

"Um-uh…" and thus Terra was backed up into a cornor. If he lied then would eagerly look in that direction and drag his mother and sister with him and they wouldn't be able to say a thing against Terra's word because Dante would go 'he's santa why would he lie'. And if he told him he couldn't then Dante would ask why and he'd have to think of some kind of half baked answer, and let's face it Dante was as dull as other kids his age were. Knowing this dilemma Aqua chose to jump in

"But uh Dante he needs to go give gifts to the other kids" Aqua told him as Dante looked at her and Terra did a quick thumbs up to thank her for the save

"But we could be up all night looking for her. Santa kind find in seconds right?" he asked then looked back to Terra who found himself put into the same cornor he was in a couple seconds ago.

"Dante let the man go, he needs make other kids happy" Claire told him gingerly

"But mom!" Dante whined as Claire was going to say something else before they heard a loud noise coming from the entrance

"AHHHUHHHHHH…"

"What was that?" Elise asked as everyone else looked down to the front doors

"I think came from down stairs" Claire added

"It sounded like someone moaning" Aqua added

"Whatever the case we need to check it out" Terra said as everyone then ran for the front door. Except for Terra, who used this opportunity to sneak away before Dante would catch wise to him. He quickly ran off to one of the hallways and summoned his keyblade, then with a quick swish over from head to toe the cotume disappeared, beard and all. Then he started back to the front room.

Aqua, Dante and the mothers had gotten down to the front doors and found the source of the noise. It was coming from the closet. Aqua took it upon herself to see what was in there. As she turned the doorknob she felt the door push itself open and a bundle of jackets fell out with someone wrapped in them. Aqua jumped back a foot as did the others

"Whoa!" Aqua said agasped as the thing in the jackets weakly began to stir

"Errr… ow what…."

"Des?" Elise asked in shock as she knelt down to help her daughter up

"OW OW OW Mom stop!" she said as Elise gently let loose of her grip and left as was for the moment.

"Sorry dear but what happened to you?" she asked as she let out a couple deep breaths. While echoing through the halls was another set of footsteps that got everyone's attention

"Evy?" Dante asked as someone rushed down the stairs

"Not quite…" Terra said then let out a gasp when he saw his sister. He rushed to her, and knelt just like his mother. "Des what's wrong?" He asked as Des used what strength she had to push herself up with her arms so they could see her face.

"Evy did this to me" She said with a sneer.

"Evy?" Claire asked as Des nodded

"How?" Aqua as Des rubbed the side of neck. Elise on instinct took her daughter's hand off her kneck to get a look at what was bothering her. She let a gasp when she saw what was ailing her

"What mom?" Terra asked as Elise quickly rubbed her hands together

"Terra hold her for me" she explained as Terra did as told without question. When she finished warming her hands she quickly jabbed at a few points on her neck, shoulder, and upper arm. With one last jab to her neck Des shot up and was able to support herself by her arms.

"Ow what the heck mom"

"Thank god that we found you when we did" Elise said relieved as Terra looked at her

"Why's that"

"I'm guessing Evy figured out where you hit her and thought she could do it herself and tried it on Des. But she hit her wrong and almost caused a paralysis that would've made her lose the use of her lower body"

"What?" They all asked in shock as Elise helped her daughter up, who was still a little weak

"How could use something dangerous like that on your daughter?" Claire asked with a little anger in her voice. It could very well have been Evy that could have been paralyzed if Terra had messed up

"It wasn't like she was the first person I ever did it on and it's not like I did it regularly" She retorted

"By why take the risk?" Aqua asked as Elise remained silent.

"You guys… Evy's outside with Ven" Des said to change the subject, not knowing that that's what they actually needed to know.

"Why's she out there!?" Clair asked in a angry tone as Elise shot her a glare

"Don't you dare yell at my baby" she said coldly

"Please both of you control yourselves…" Aqua said as she got between the mothers then looked at Des

"Why is she out there?"

"She likes Ven and we were heading out there to look at the stars, she took my place so she could be alone with him" She explained as Aqua a nodded a thank you to her.

"Ok come on!" She told her mother and Dante

"I'm coming to" Terra said as Aqua shook her head

"Uh that's ok Terra…" she said as she leaned in close to him and whispered "… I don't think it would be a good idea with my mom being a little mad at your mom right now" she explained as Terra hesitantly nodded

"Ok then" he answered then went over to his mother and picked up Des and cradled her in his arms then went up the steps with his mother and sister. While Aqua, her mother, and Dante got their snow gear on and ran out into the cold to go after Evy.


	26. Heartbreaker

**To the recent guest reviewer where did you get 18 for Ven? I'm not too sure on actual in game age but he's like 15 in here. As for Des' age I made her the same age as him, I'm pretty sure I made that clear in chapter 3. Just wanted to clear that up is all. Now loyal readers and random newbies welcome to chapter 26, hope you like it.**

Ven had taken Evy to the summit to get a crystal clear view of the sky. They decided to sit next to one of the mounds of snow that Ven had used for the snowball fight with Terra and Aqua a couple days ago. They sat down on the cold snow covered ground, not caring if their pants were going to get wet and leaned back onto the snow mound behind them so they didn't need to stretch out their necks to look up at the sky. Evy was taken aback by the clear winter night sky, there were so many stars in the sky that it almost made the dark space around them look like the minority of the sky.

"This looks so beautiful Ven" she said as Ven looked over at her and grinned, he loved the way the stars were reflecting in her eyes.

'not as much as you' he thought to himself as he reached to his side for the container of egg nog and poured himself out a cup and took a sip. Then he nudged Evy and offered her some

"Want any?"

"Sure" she said as she grabbed the cup, pulled her scarf down and sipped a little then gave it back to him. Unbeknownst to her she gave herself a little egg-stache making Ven laugh a little when she gave it back to him "What?"

"Oh nothing, by the way I really like your new mustache" He said with a laugh at the end as Evy licked the top of her lip then just to be funny poked the tip of her nose with her tongue. Which made Ven laugh more "Hey I didn't know you could do that" He said through giggles

"I'm the only one in my family who can do it" she said proudly. Actually not only could she do that she is also the most flexible in her family. In fact back when Aqua and her were younger their mother signed them up for gymnastics, because they were really hyper and she and her husband needed some way to get the energy out of them, and she was doing cartwheels and summersaults before Aqua could even get through hurdles without tipping them over as she jumped. She eventually got it but by that time Evy could practically do flips in mid air.

"You should do that more often. It makes you look cute" He said with a smile as Evy blushed.

"Thank you Ven" She said for a split second forgetting to change her voice slightly to sound like Des. Ven didn't notice her voice as someone else's but did recognize it as something else

"You sound a little funny. Maybe you're getting sick" He said as Evy shook her head

"No I feel fine" She said remembering to change her voice, but she didn't completely convince him

"Maybe we should go back inside, after all you don't want to be sick tomorrow" The instant she heard the words 'back inside' she started shaking her head.

"No not yet… please just a little bit longer" she said leaning on him and looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. Ven looked at her eyes and saw something different from what he saw only a little while ago. Maybe it was the moonlight or something but those didn't look like Des' eyes. But he melted all the same by her puppy dog stare

"Ok ok a couple more minutes" He said, Evy mentally yelling out 'yes!', as he leaned back on the snow with her laying her head on his chest, enjoying every moment of this night.

**Meanwhile …**

Aqua, her mother, and Dante were making their way to the summit. Aqua's mother was out in front in a fast walk down the path while Aqua and Dante were walking steadily behind her

"Gezz mommy slow down" Dante whined but didn't get that much of a response back from his mother.

"Yeah mom c'mon give the little guy a break" Aqua pleaded as her mother responded without stopping

"If he's getting tired then just pick him up and carry him!" She barked back shocking the both of them "I just want to hurry up and get Evy then head back into the castle so this day can just end" she said as she sped up a little to get to the summit faster. Aqua and Dante were left speechless; they had never seen their mom act snappy so this was a new thing to them.

"What happened to mommy?" Dante asked his big sister

"I honestly don't know" She answered as she looked at Dante. He looked pretty tired, guess that cure boast was starting to wear off. Dante let out a small yawn and rubbed his eyes, that Aqua had to admit did look cute, struggling to stay awake. "Here hold up little guy" she said as they both stopped and she knelt down to his height "Here hop on" She told him gesturing to her back as he tiredly hopped on and hugged his arms on Aqua's neck while she supported his feet with her hands. Dante nestled into her and steadily began to drift away as his sister continued forward with him on her back. She caught up to her mother who was almost to the summit

"So what are you going to do when you get there?" Aqua asked as her mother shot her a irritated glance

"I'm going to grab her by the arm and drag her back to the castle"

"Uh… doesn't that seem a little much? I mean she just did this because she likes Ven" Aqua stated to her mom "I mean yes her methods were a bit… drastic but can't you give her some benefit of the doubt?"

"No" she said solemnly as walked a little faster, leaving Aqua shaking her head, this wasn't going to be pretty for anyone.

**Back with the 'couple'**

Evy sighed as she continued looking up at the sky with Ven keeping a gently grasp around her waist. This was something that could only be summed up in one word to her, amazing. She wished she could enjoy this forever, however she was getting tired, letting out a gentle yawn and rubbing her head a little deeper into Ven's chest. He let out a small chuckle, it tickled when she did that. He looked down at her and noticed her went back a little revealing her hair. At first he was going to stroke it when on further inspection he noticed something off with her hair in the moon light. It wasn't its usual cool black color, it was blue. And not a dark blue that could be confused for black, it was blue. It was as blue as Aqua's and her whole family's hair.

'Hey… wait a minute!' Ven mentally shouted in his head as he looked down at who he thought was Des and pulled her hood down. The instant he laid a finger on her hood Evy snapped out of her sleep and jumped off Ven to try and keep him from pulling away her hood. But in doing so Ven grabbed onto it quicker and when she yanked away from him it made the hood tear clean off. Evy had pulled away to hard from Ven and was now lying in the snow as Ven stood up and took a look at her. She wasn't Des, it was Aqua's sister

"Evy? What the heck are you doing out her… and why are you wearing Des' jacket!?" Ven asked her wanting to get straight down to why she was here. Evy picked herself off the ground and patted to snow off the arm of 'her' jacket

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Isn't what?" Ven asked as Evy let out a sigh, she had no Idea he was this thick headed. She had given him signs that she liked him and all this time he just didn't know they were signs, it all made sense to her now.

"I… like… you!" she said slowly and spaced out to get crystal clear to Ven who store at her in surprise

"You… like me?"

"Yes! How could you not tell!?"

"Well how was supposed to tell!? Why didn't you just tell me you liked me!?" Ven shouted back

"Because you were always with Des! She was hogging you all to herself and I could never be with you!"

"She was never hogging me I was the one that wanted to hang out with her! Because in a choice between a really nice who wanted to be my friend and a girl who for the couple of days that I've known has always been a sour mood, tried to keep me and the other girl from getting to know each other better, and was willing to hurt the other girl I think the reason why I choose the nice girl is fairly obvious!" Ven yelled at her as she was about to rebudle before Ven continued " No! No more, I really don't like to be mean but… LEAVE ME AND DES ALONE! I DON'T LIKE YOU!" he yelled at her with all his breath, his voice even echoing down the mountains and being heard by her mother and sister.

A silence went through the air between the two teens as Ven took in deep breath and kept a glare on her that began to fade when he saw the expression on Evy's face. She was sniffling, trying to hold back tears as she tried to find something to say to him. But his words had cut through her like a knife and she got the message. As tears started to cascade down her cheeks Ven realized what he had just said.

"Oh my… Evy I'm so…"

"SHUT UP YOU BIG JERK!" she yelled at him before turning around and running back to the castle, leaving him in the snow. Ven would've run after her, but what good would it have done. He just stood there, the scene that had just occurred flashing in his head over and over again. As the scene kept playing back in his head, the more ashamed of himself he became. He felt like her should just beat himself up but was smart enough not to actually attempt such an act. So he just stood there, fist clenched, completely ashamed of himself.

**Back with Aqua **

They were almost to the summit and the scene that Aqua was painting in her head wasn't a pretty picture. Just as they were about to enter Ven's spot they saw Evy running toward them then past them with tears rolling off her face.

"What the…?" Aqua's mom asked aloud

"That was Evy… but she was crying" Aqua stated as her mother glared forward and went onward. "Whoa mom Evy going that way" Aqua said finding it odd she was continuing to the summit

"I know and since she's crying I can guess who made her" Her mom said threatingly as Aqua let out a gasp and quickly got in front her mom with her arms stretched "Get out of the way Aqua!"

"No! Go after Evy I'll deal with Ven"

"Aqua listen to your mother and…!" 

"Mom do you realize how crazy your acting right now, how made you look? It isn't you and if you go up to confront Ven you might do something you regret. So please be the mom I know and go help your daughter" Aqua pleaded as her mother debated with herself. She was still mad enough to want to proceed with what she was going to do, however she wasn't mad enough to not see how right Aqua was. She let out a sigh as she turned around and started to head back, not saying another word.

Aqua let out a small sigh of relief as she put her hands back behind her back to support Dante, she was lucky that he didn't fall off during that or wake up. Hoping Dante up a little bit more onto her to make him easier to hold on to she went toward the summit where she saw Ven sitting in the snow, his face buried into his knees. She stayed quite as she got closer to him then let out a simple

"Hey" Ven looked over at her and was a little surprised she was here with Dante, but he felt too bad to care all too much

"Hey" he said back as Aqua sat down next to him, putting Dante into her lap so he didn't have to lie in the snow.

"Des is ok if you're wondering, she with her mom and Terra now. Turns out Evy knocked her out" Aqua stated as Ven just looked blanky into some snow. Aqua started to feel a sense of awkwardness in the air so decided to break the ice a little more "I can't believe Evy dressed up like Des. She must really like you" Aqua said as Ven let out a small sigh, the thought of him yelling at her and saying 'I don't like you' ran through her head when she said that. "Did you know it was her when you brought her out here" Aqua asked as Ven for the first time in this conversation gave a answer, a simple shake of his head. "Then why did I just her storming off?"

"Because I figured it out…" He said with a slight hint of sadness in his words

"Why was she crying then?" She asked as Ven let out another sad sigh

"I said some things"

"What kind of things?" she asked as Ven dug his head deeper into his knees.

"Some things I really shouldn't have said" He said, the sadness even more prominent then before. It was enough for Aqua to notice, and she knew she would now have to tread carefully with Ven right now.

"Like what?" she asked as Ven remained silent, but she expected that "It's ok if you don't want to tell me, I understand. And I'll admit maybe my sister deserved a little of what you said to her. But I can tell that you went way beyond a little for whatever you said" She said then paused as looked at the curled up Ven and extened her hand onto his back and rubbed it slightly "But you know, you'd be amazed what a simple apology can accomplish"

"I don't think just saying sorry will cut it Aqua" Ven said as he raised his head from his knees slightly and looked at her with one of his eyes

"Then do something special when you say it. After all I know that you can come up with some creative ways to get a point across" She said with a grin. Ven put some thought into it, he guessed he could find some way to say he's sorry he didn't know what yet but he would. Ven then completely raised his head up and put on a gentle smile for Aqua

"Thanks Aqua"

"Hey it's what's friends are for" She said with a smile then shivered slightly when a brisk breeze passed through the air. She got up and held Dante by her shoulder and arms then looked down at Ven "I'm going to head back to the castle you want walk back with me?"

"No" He said then looked straight in front of him at the mountains in the distance "I think I'll stay out here just a little longer"

"I understand, take all the time you need." She said then started back leaving Ven alone with his thoughts on how to apologize to Evy.

**Leave a review if you want to see the next chapter come out sooner XD**


	27. Christmas day at last

The night had finished up on a bad note, and a very bad one at that. Both of the families now hated each other, Ven had lost temper and made Evy cry, and Des had been hurt by Evy and wouldn't be back to a hundred percent till a couple days from now. Yeah this Christmas probably wouldn't be in anyone's top 5

With both of the mothers taking care of their respective daughter, Terra and Aqua were tasked with setting out all the gifts that they and their mothers had bought. Aqua had gotten to the tree first and was setting out the small presents first. Just as she was setting out the last of the small ones Terra had entered the room

"You to huh?" Terra asked as Aqua looked up at him and put on a small grin

"Yeah, my mom was too busy with Evy to come out and do this herself." She said placing the last present on top of another that would go to the same person as Terra set down the bags of gifts he brought with him from his and his mom/sister's room. His mom put the gifts in Des' room because of her husband's violent habits and because she knew Des wasn't one to ruin a surprise especially for herself.

"Same with my mom and Des, she'll be ok if you're wondering. She'll just have a slight limp in her step for the next week or so" Terra said as he opened up his sack of gifts and started placing them around the tree while Aqua got up and went to a pile of larger gifts she set out when she got there earlier.

"I'm sorry about that" Aqua said heaving up a big box and moving it to the back of the tree

"You don't have to apologize it wasn't your fault"

"But I could've stopped Evy after dinner or I could've been a better sister and talked to her…"

"Woah Aqua calm down, things just happen" Terra said as he got up and walked over to her behind the tree "What matters is how we deal with them. So everyone is a little mad should that stop us from trying to make them happy tomorrow? No it shouldn't" Terra told her as he put a hand on her shoulder, sending slight tingles up and down her spine "So don't worry about what you could've done, I don't blame you and neither does my mom or Des. Just relax and be happy for tomorrow" He said as after a few seconds to let what he said sink in Aqua nodded

"Thanks Terra" she said then gave him a quick hug, making Terra blush momentarily. Aqua then let go and got back to what she was doing as Terra stood there for a couple seconds after then recomposed himself then got back to work. It take them long to get the presents positioned where they wanted them to be. The tree looked even better with all the gifts under it. It was a very festive sight just like a freshly laid blanket of snow.

"Well if all else at least Dante will be happy with it in the morning" Terra said as Aqua nodded

"Yeah that'll be nice. Well I'd better get to bed. The little guy is probably going to wake me up pretty early tomorrow"

"Yeah same here, night"

"Night" they both said then parted ways for their rooms. But just as they left the room, the front doors slowly opened and a hooded Ven had entered the castle, quickly getting off his snow gear. He tossed then tossed in the closet then let out a sigh, still feeling bad from earlier. If it was a little earlier in the day he would've gone to say he was sorry to Evy or go check on Des but it was at least 1 in the morning now and they had to be asleep. As he climb his way up the steps he was greated with a fantastic sight. What once was just a pretty plain decorated tree turned into a cascade of sparkling wonder.

"Whoa…" He said to himself as he got closer to the tree and knelt down to look at the gifts that were scattered all around it. 'what are these doing here?' he wondered as he looked all around the tree. Everywhere he looked he could kind a brightly wrapped gift with someone's name on it. As he looked around he began to put pieces together. For his birthday his master, Terra, and Aqua gave him gifts that looked like this. So he could tell that these boxes had things in them for whoever's name was on the gift. Then as he thought even more he deduced something

'Maybe all that stuff I got for everyone is suppose to go under here and be wrapped like that. But where am I supposed to get that kind of paper?' he thought as he got an idea to solve his semi-dilemma. So he got back to his room, as fast as he could without waking anyone, and started pulling out big pieces of plain white paper that he had by desk whenever he felt like he was up for a little art project, and got out the stuff he bought. He started wrapping the three he gifts he got for his master, Terra, and Aqua. And set the fireworks he got for everyone else to the side, he's need some time to set that up later tomorrow. As he wrapped the gifts he found it hard getting them to look as neat as the others around the tree, but he figured no one would care since they were going to tear into them anyway. So after all three of the gifts were wrapped he strolled back to the tree and gently set them down in front of it. When he placed his gifts next to the others they looked a little crummy but it didn't take away from the nice sight the tree was giving. With simple nod and small grin Ven's job was done, so he turned around and head back to his room for some much need R&R.

With that everyone was sleeping, though not everyone anxiously waiting for Christmas day like they should. No visions of sugarplums dancing through their heads, nor the imagining of a jolly red man on the rooftop. The thought going through most of their heads was for this to be over with so their lives could go back to normal.

**Morning…**

Dawn slowly broke, the brightening sun peeking past the mountains around the castle. Everyone was still sleeping even with the sunlight starting to seep its way into their rooms. Everyone except one blue haired boy

Almost on the instant the first speck of sunlight came into the room he woke up. He slowly got up into a upright position on the bed and took a look at his surroundings. He was on the end of his mother's bed with her still sleeping at the front with Evy in her arms. She had spent the whole night comforting her and had fell asleep with her in her arms. Dante then looked forward again and rubbed his eyes with a yawn. Then it struck him lightning.

"Wait… it's Christmas." He said almost in tone of disbelief as he wobbled his way on the bed to the window and looked out to see a freshly snowed landscape with a rising sun. A huge smile quickly found its way on his face as he began to shake with excitement. "IT'S CHRISTMAS!" he yelled stiring his mother and sister awake

"Uh…" his mother groaned as Dante quickly found his way ontop of her and shaking her

"Mommy get up it's Christmas!"

"Uh…ugh Dante ok stop!" she said as little groggy as she sat up.

"Ugh is it morning already?" Evy asked as she got up

"Yeah it is merry Christmas!" Dante said happily as Evy rubbed one of her eyes

"Yeah yeah merry Christmas" Evy said with a yawn at the end

"Hurry up and get up!" Dante said starting bounce up and down on the bed

"Gezz ok Dante" Evy told her brother while their mother did some small stretches in bed

"Why don't you go see if Aqua is up?" She suggested as he happily nodded and jumped out of bed and went to Aqua's room. Immediately after he left Evy slumped back into bed

"5 more minutes"

"Ok sweety" She told her then got up and went to the closet where she pulled out a box and a rather big box at that, it was at least 2 feet tall. "This'll just give me some time to get this out. I hope he likes it" She said as she picked up the box and moved it to the front room.

Dante had quickly gotten to Aqua's room and stormed his way in.

"Aqua wake up it's Christmas!" He yelled as he looked over at her bed to see no one residing in it. "Aqua?" he asked as he walked in and looked around. She was nowhere to be found. As he went further in the room the door behind him began to close but he didn't think anything of it. 'where could she be?' He thought as he began to turn around but was then hoisted into the air "Woaaaahhh!"

"Gotcha!" Aqua said as she poked him in the tummy with a laugh. Dante let out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around her neck in a hug.

"Merry Christmas Aqua" he said as she smiled at him and returned the favor

"Merry Christmas Dante" She said then set him down

"Why are you up? Mom and Evy weren't up when I woke up?"

"They've always been people that like to sleep in, I always wake up early on Christmas just ask mom" She said, thinking back to years prior where she would always wake up early and wake her mother up along with her father and excitedly wait for them to get to the tree and let her open her gifts. "Well come one lets get to the tree" Aqua said then opened her door and watched Dante run off "I'm gonna get there first"

"Oh no you're not!" Aqua said playfully as she ran out of her room and after him.

**Meanwhile…**

Terra was slowly waking up as the pale sunlight hit his face. He let out a groan as he began to stretch his arm over his head then crack his neck. He nestled around in the chair he was in to loosen his back as his eyes opened to a familiar sight but in a different setting. His mom sleeping next to Des with one of Des' arms gently placed on top of their mother in his bed. This was sight was familiar to him, his mom would always sleep with Des if something bad had happened. Most of the time it was his father being himself but this time of course was because she was hurt. Terra grin for a moment before he got up and gently walked his way over to his bed, which he did willfully surrender to them last night, and gently shook Des. She stirred awake very slowly as her opened to the sight of her brother looking down at her

"Morning" she said tiredly

"Morning Des, Merry Christmas" He said in normal happy voice as she looked at him with a smile and said

"Merry Christmas Terra" She said happily as she sat up in Terra's bed, and winced a little in pain.

"Do you need help up?" Terra asked as Des shook her head at him

"No I got it"

"You shouldn't strain yourself honey" their mom said as she sat up to. She had waken up a little after Terra shoke Des awake "Morning baby merry christmas" She said to her son who returned the favor.

"Well let's hurry up and get down stairs. I didn't set up all the gifts for nothing" Terra said making his mom feel bad that she had forgotten to set up the gifts, but glad that he went out his way to do so. Then a funny thought crossed her mind

'Wow he really played the Santa roll really well' she thought finding it funny that he had to play Santa for Dante and set up the gifts too.

"Yeah come on mom get up" Des said, already standing up at the end of the bed and taking slow weighted steps to the door.

"Don't push yourself to hard dear" She told her as she nodded, but unseen to her mother she rolled her eyes

"Ok" She said then left the room and tried to get a good start to the front room. Terra stayed behind as his mom was starting to get out of bed, still in the same clothes she was wearing yesterday.

"Terra go make sure she doesn't fall over" She asked him as she stood up and stretched out her arms

"I will but I want to ask you something" he said as she looked at him curiously

"What would that be?"

**Meanwhile on the other side of the castle…**

Aqua and Dante went back to their mother's room and met up with her and Evy. Then they started off for the tree

Dante was far ahead of everyone, occasionally having to wait for everyone to catch up. Evy was ahead of her mother and sister but not far up ahead to be next to Dante. While yesterday still resonated in her head with a constant painful sting it was after all Christmas and who doesn't like free stuff. Leaving Aqua and her mom trailing at the back end of this, it was silent between the two of them until it was broken by simple gasp from her mother

"What?" Aqua asked her being that she was the only one that heard her gasp

"I didn't set out the presents last night" she said in a silent frantic tone but almost loud enough for Dante. He looked back thinking he heard his mother say something but shrugged it off as nothing.

"I wouldn't worry about that I think 'Santa' took care of that" she said with a wink at the end. Her mother looked at her curiously for a second then sighed out of relief when she pieced it together. She was lucky to have such a considerate daughter.

"Thank you dear"

"Don't mention it mom"

"I really owe you one" she told her daughter as Aqua looked at her

"Well I did want to ask you something"

"Sure anything…"

"I know that you aren't right now on the best of terms with Aqua's mother…" Terra said to his mom as she sat there and listened.

"… and I know you're mad at her because of last night but for today could you… drop it?" Aqua asked her mother who looked at her like she was crazy

"Well I wasn't going to hold anything against her anyway…" Aqua's mom said

"…Even if it was her daughter I shouldn't be mad her. I shouldn't be mad at Evy either but I do want a apologize for Des from her"

"I think we can do that" Terra said with a smile

"So you aren't going to get mad at her?" Aqua asked. And to answer both Terra and Aqua's questions they nodded. Aqua gave her mother a smile to say thank you as they finished their way to the front room. Terra thanked his mom with a hug

"Thanks…" He said before he parted from her "…well I need to go make sure Des is ok and I better wake up Ven" he said reminding his mom of something

"And… I better go wake up your dad" She said as Terra's expression went flat

"Mom I know this might be much to ask but could you please just let dad sleep" He begged his mother who would love to do that. However she couldn't, waking him up would be better than letting him sleep, he'd be easier on her.

"I… can't" she said then got up and left the room, keeping her gaze away from Terra who was starting to worry.

"Mom?"

"Just go help your sister and your friend" she said then closed the door leaving Terra alone with what was going on.

As Elise walked through the halls she had her hand gently rubbing her left arm. Something she hadn't told Terra about his dad was how he got worse after he left. He blamed her for letting him go when in truth he had been liquored up the night master Erauqs came and took Terra with him. In some small she did play a part by giving him his drinks but he could've said no. And every day after he blamed her for Terra leaving, and even took his anger out on her. She tried to show the courage to stand up to him at times but she would always go back to being scared of him

As she approached the door that her husband was behind she had to muster up the strength and courage to raise her arm and knock on the door.

"What?"

"Just making sure you're up"

"Well I am, and I'll be out in a little bit"

"We'll be opening presents now"

"Whatever I'll meet up with you guys in a bit" He said unnervingly as she sighed then left for the front room post heist. While behind the door, that monster of a man was on the ground of the room doing pushups, each time he came up his muscles conjoined showing compact and tight his body was. With one big shove he got up on his feet and took a deep breath before going into a fighting stance and punching out combos at a insanely fast rate. He calmed down and took a breath as he looked for his bag and opened it up and pulled out a roll of white bandages

'I've waited three years for this Terra…' he thought as he began to wrap the bandages around his left fist then tied it off and started on his right '… you were supposed be a fighter like me. You were going to take my spot in that hellish sport and make me proud. But no you had to go off and play make believe with some crazy old man' he thought as he finished his bandage, tightening tighter than the other. 'your grandfather and me wanted you a fighter since before you were you little snot, that was the plan that's I'm married to that whiny girl I call a wife' he thought as he found his shoes and got them and tightened them as much as he could

"But it all ends now Terra. You're coming home"


	28. Showdown! Terra vs Travis

Ven was still in his bed sawing logs in a rather uncomfortable position for most anyone but for some reason Ven found it comfortable enough to sleep the night in. He mumbled some gibberish, probably from a dream, as he even moved slightly in his sleep. He looked so peaceful…

BUMP BUMP BUMP

Ven was quickly awakened and shot his eyes open

"Ven! Wake up!" Terra said as Ven, much like a cat, stretched himself out on his bed. "Ven!"

"I'm coming I'm coming give me a second!" He said to Terra as he hopped off his bed and went to his dresser to get a shirt then answered his door, bed headed and all

"Morning" Ven said with eyes half open, showing he was in a semi-conscious state.

"Morning, just wanted to wake you up for presents" Terra said as Ven let out a small yawn

"Ok let me do something really quick and I'll be right with you" Ven said then closed his door while Terra and Des waited

"He didn't even notice me" Evy said to her brother who had his arms crossed while waiting for Ven

"I'm surprised he noticed me. He's always so groggy and sleepy in the morning that I'm surprised he can find the shower" Terra said, remembering a couple times Ven hit the frame of the bathroom door on his morning route. A second later Ven's door opened back up with him leaving his room. The only difference between this Ven and the one before was that his hair had been brushed, though to be honest no one really could've told the difference since Ven's hairstyle always resembled a lop sided bedhead in itself anyway, but the main difference was that it looked more controlled.

"Ok let's go" Ven said then was lead down the hallway by Terra and Des

"Hey are you ok?" Ven asked Des who noticed Ven was with her side by side while Terra was up in front.

"I just have a little wobble in my step because of last night I'll be fine" She said as Ven took notice that she did seem to appear a little weaker compared to last night.

"Sorry I wasn't there to stop Evy from doing what she did to you last night"

"It's alright it's not your fault"

"Hey if you need someone to lean on I'll be personal crutch if you want" Ven offered as Des smiled then took his offer and slightly leaned on him while putting one of her arms on his shoulder for better support

"Thanks" Des said as Ven broke a smile and even started to gain a slight blush on his face as Terra kept his eyes foreword. Whatever his sister does isn't his business.

**Meanwhile… **

"And this one's mine and this one's mine and this one's mine…"

"Ok Dante we get it" Aqua said a little aggravated at her brother as he sorted out his gifts. Evy was right next to her finding her gifts as Aqua did the same. Their mother had to run back to their room for a quick second, turns out Aqua missed one gift and it was a big one. Her mother didn't tell her what this big gift was but only that Dante would flip over it.

"Hey Aqua this one's yours and Evy's" Dante said as he handed over a small box to Aqua who looked at it curiously as did Evy.

"Who's it from?"

"It's from Santa!" Dante said with a smile as Aqua pointed out the name of who it was from on the gift 'Terra'. From the size of the gift they could tell it was jewelry but that was all that could be told about it. Setting it aside all of them got back to sorting out their gifts. While they did this another person came into the room and to long after came another 3

"Hey you started without us" Terra said playfully disappointed as Aqua grinned at him

"Well if you guys would've woken up and got here faster we would've waited" she said teasingly as Terra grinned

"Blame captain bedhead over there. If he would've woken up faster we probably would've gotten here faster"

"Hey who you calling a bed head, just look at yours" Ven retorted back playfully as he pointed at Terra's not well brushed head

"At least none of my hair is pointing up like a hedgehog" Terra retorted back as everyone, even Evy, let out a small laugh as Ven crossed his arms and glared off angerly in defeat

"I'm back!" Aqua's mother announced as she came in with a big brightly wrapped box "Guess santa really wanted to hide this one from you Dante" she said as she set the box down by Dante's pile as he looked at it curiously

"What do you think it is?" Aqua asked him as he laid an ear on the box then knocked on it a couple times then to his surprise it responded with a small gitter that moved the box around a bit

"I don't know but I can't wait to find out!" He yelled out as he almost tore the paper on the sides of the gift straight off

"Woah hold it" Aqua said as she pushed Dante's hands away from the gift "Wait up for them let them get their gifts"

"Awwww" whined in annoyance as he crossed his arms

"Don't worry Dante will hurry up" Terra said as he, Des, and Ven started sorting out their gifts. As they did Terra's mother had arrived into the room, she made a quick run to the kitchen to get to get something warm to drink. She stood right next to Claire as she took another sip of her drink

"Good morning"

"Good morning and merry Christmas" Claire said to Elise trying to be nice

"Like wise" Elise said as she saw that her daughter was handing her something

"Here this one's for you" Des said as her mother took and stared at the small box. She knew it was from Terra but what could it be. While in a similar fashion Evy was handing her mother a box

"Mom this one is yours" She said as Claire took it then looked it over. The box was by comparison smaller than Elise's but she didn't care. It's not the size it what it is that really matters, though she and Elise knew what their gifts were already

"Why is it that mothers always get jewelry on Christmas while kids get what they want?" Clair leaned over and whispered into Elise's ear

"Because jewelry and moms go hand in hand, just like liquor and my husband" She said getting a small laugh out of Claire, though she did wonder if she really should be laughing at that.

"Speaking of him where is he, still sleeping?"

"No he's awake but I don't know…" she said with a shrug "…he's never been big on holidays"

"He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who's big on anything" Claire said simply as Elise let out a sigh

"Your completely right on that" She said as Claire looked at her and for a second thought she offended her "But it's better this way, the rare occasion where he did celebrate a holiday with us were really bad. He would never let up on the kids" She said remembering those memories vividly. At that moment Claire had a realization, she shouldn't be mad at her for what happened last night. She had nothing to do with it, the only thing she did was teach Terra that pressure point move and no one could've predicted that Evy was such a fast learner.

"Elise…" she said getting her attention "…I'm sorry for how I acted last night. I wasn't myself" she said as Elise let out another sigh, but this was one was out of happiness

"Apology accepted"

"HURRY UP!" Dante yelled at Terra, Des, and Ven

"Hold on little guy there's only one more left" Terra said as he reached to the back of the tree and found a very small box with Des' name on it "Here Des" he said handing it to her then walked on his knees over to his small pile of gifts. Everyone, except the mothers, had a small pile of gifts infront of them. Dante had the biggest pile out of everyone, next to him was Evy and Des, then after them was Terra and Aqua, and lastly Ven had the smallest only receiving about 4 gifts, but he wasn't or anything he was just glad he got something.

"So how are we going to do this?" Des asked as the mothers thought

"Well how about youngest to oldest?" Elise suggested

"I'm ok with that how about you guys?" Claire as everyone either gave a nod or a yes as a answer

"Well if that's the case then the person who's up first is…"

"Me!" Dante proclaimed interrupting Aqua as everyone looked at him and waited for him to open his first present, which was still firmly gripped in his arms from when his mother handed it to him. Without any hesitation he clawed off the wrapping paper to find the cardboard box that held his gift. He opened, or more like ripped, the top off and gasped when he saw what it was.

"What is it?" Aqua asked as she and everyone else couldn't see because Dante was blocking whatever it was. Then randomly his mother said

"Speak" then a small yip came from the box and at that moment everyone knew what it was.

"It's a puppy!" Dante practically squealed as the dog hopped up into his arms, knocking him onto his back, as the pup licked up his face. It was a small white dog that looked like it hadn't been to long since it was born. All the girls were awing at the dog as Ven and Terra looked at it with warm smiles. Claire was smilling down at her son as he was being attacked by his new puppy as Elise leaned over to her and whispered her something

"How'd you hide a dog?"

"Their master let me put her in his room, she's actually a pretty quite dog. I practically had to rush this morning to get it in a box in time" she said as she kept looking at Dante and how happy he was

"What's its name?" Evy asked surprising her mother that she was in a good mood right now.

"First it's a she and she doesn't have one. Dante how about you name her" she told him as he got off his back and sat up to pet his dog in his lap while he looked at her. Well she was white really white that's all he could tell about her beyond that she liked to lick him. He had never named something so he really didn't know what to name her.

"I don't know what to name her" Dante said as he kept looking at her hoping he could think of something good.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Elise asked as Clair looked over at her

"Sure what is it?"

"Well… what about Lily?"

"Lily?" Dante asked as he looked up at her

"Yeah I mean look at her she looks as white as a lily flower and they only bloom in the summer when everyone's happy. So white and happy I think that perfectly describes her" Elise finished explaining as Dante looked at his dog again as she store back at him

"Well what do you think… Lily?" he asked getting a yip and a lick on the cheek for a response "Hahehe I guess that's your name now" he said with a laugh, her licks were tickling him. Soon enough the Dante returned to his gifts, he got a couple cool toys and games but nothing could compare to Lily. Ven made Aqua notice a certain gift of his, a newly made wooden toy sword. Aqua gave Ven a quick one armed hug to thank him for making a gift for her brother

"Hey don't mention it" Ven said as he watched Evy go at her gifts. Since she was getting older she was starting to move away from toys and such and more toward that stage where kids just asked their parents for stuff they thought they needed for Christmas. Since that was the case most of Evy's gifts were clothes, a makeup kit, and a new computer. The only gift that really jumped out to her was the jacket Aqua had gotten, it was the only thing she wasn't expecting and she absolutely loved it just screamed her. She put on and noted how comfortable it was making her sister smile, she made the right choice.

Next was Des, just like Evy she was growing more toward the things she needed phase of Christmas. But she didn't mind if her mom or Terra threw a plushie or something for Christmas. She got almost the same stuff as Evy, clothes, makeup, even a plushie or two for a laugh. She really liked the books Terra got her as well, she needed something new to read desperately.

Then it was Aqua's turn. Her first gift was from her mom and Evy got her a photo album with a photo on the cover of her, Evy, and their parents. She took a quick glance through It and saw old photos of her, Evy, her mom, her dad and even some new ones of Dante. She really liked this gift, now instead of one family photo she a lot more to remember them from. Another gift she had received was small silver pendant that she assumed her mother helped Dante pick out. Next she opened up a couple a flat gift that when she opened it realized it was a new dark blue top with white sleeve gloves, she knew her mother picked this out personally because she always had a good sense of what looked good on her children. Next she opened a rather poorly wrapped gift, it may have been mean to think of but she took a very confident guess that this was Ven's gift because of how horribly wrapped it was. When she opened it she had no idea what to think of it, but everyone but Ven did. Everyone was letting out a big laugh at the object

"Aqua hahahaheha what is that thing!?" Evy asked as Aqua looked at it trying to figure out what it was herself. It was a ceramic statue, that much she could tell, that looked like a bucking buffalo mixed with a human and a giraffe and what also looked like a toad or bunny? She really couldn't it just looked to warp to tell what anything was on this thing.

"You like it?" Ven asked as Aqua looked over at him, putting on her most convincing fake smile.

"It… looks nice" she said as Ven struck a big grin as Aqua looked at the statue disgustingly as she set it down then opened up her last gift. After unwrapping it she saw it was a small box that when she opened it revealed 2 twin silver bracelets with the only difference being that one had a white stone and the other a black one. And in the box was a little note

_You and your sister seem pretty close, maybe these destiny bracelets will keep you two connected after she leaves. Hope they do Terra_

Aqua after read the note took the bracelets and looked at them with a small smile then looked over at Terra who grinned with a nod to say 'you're welcome' as she mouthed out 'thank you'

"Wow those look cool" Dante said as he looked at the bracelets as did everyone else even Lily. Aqua slip on the one with the white gem on her left hand and looked at it once to see how looked on her arm before telling her sister

"Heads up" she said then tossed the other bracelet over at Evy who caught then looked at her sister curiously "You can have that one Evy if you want" she said as Evy slipped the bracelet onto her right arm and admired it.

"Thanks… Aqua"

"You're welcome" she said then shifted her gaze to Terra "I guess your next Terra"

"Hurry up" Ven said as Terra picked up one of his gifts, Aqua kept her eyes on him knowing the gift he picked up was hers. She hoped he enjoyed it

As he unwrapped his first gift he found a wooden box with a cool design. Now if the box looked this cool then he couldn't wait to see what was inside. He opened the box and the grin that was on his only second ago vanished as he looked at the gift. Aqua was shocked by this and even more shocked when he looked disgusted with his gift.

'For the love of god dad just stop' he thought to himself as he set down the box. Aqua was feeling really bad, what was wrong with her gift?

"Something wrong Terra?" Elise asked as he shook her head and moved onto the next gift

"I'm fine, just got a empty box was all" he said hurting Aqua's feeling by accident, he wouldn't even acknowledge his gift.

"You sure?"

"Yeah now let's see what this is" he said opening up his next gift, getting a cool techno watch that he had no idea where it came from. But a quick glance a grinning Ven was all he needed to know where it came from. He opened his last couple of gifts all the same, a hand knit scarf from his mother, a nice blanket from his sister along with a couple movies she thought he liked. And that was it, though strangely he didn't find a gift that he thought Aqua got him. 'maybe she dropped in her room' he thought as he told Ven he was up.

Ven smiled big as he tore into his first gift. He got a cool little charm from Des that she made yesterday. He got a very good picture of a lily from Evy, he was actually impressed with how detailed it was. Next he got a cool lamp with a star pattern from Terra. Then he looked at his last gift, he was a little disappointed that he didn't get as many gifts as everyone else but hey the gifts he did get were really cool and neat. So he reached his last gift…

**Meanwhile…**

Travis, Terra's dad, was storming down the hallway till he got to the front room and saw everyone gathered around the tree. He cracked his neck then his fingers before he began to walk over to them slowly.

"Whoa! What is it?" Ven asked

"It's a snowball gun"  
>"Cool!" Ven and Dante yelled out the same time as they admired it<p>

"Maybe when this all done we can have a snowball fight" Terra said

"I'm in" Evy said

"Sure why not" Des said as she heard loud footsteps coming toward them. She sighed, not even wanting to turn around and look at her dad.

"Terra…" Travis said as Terra mentally groaned

"Hello dad merry…" he started in the most unenthusiastic voice he could pull off as he looked up to see his father pushing his and Aqua's mom aside and rushing to him with his fist held high "…christmas"

**Finally! We've made it! The fight we've all been waiting for is going down now. Sorry if this chapter was boring but I needed to get all this stuff out of the way for the fun stuff. In case you're wondering Terra's and Aqua's mom didn't get Ven anything because they thought he had parents that were coming that were going to get him gifts. Also if you're wondering why Evy isn't in her pissed off mood right now it's because… well have you ever been angry on Christmas morning? Don't worry pissed off Evy will be back next chapter. So like always R&R and tell me your comments and concerns with the story. K bye**


	29. Clear the ring for a one on one

Terra let out a short gasp as he dodged out of the way. Aqua did the same but grabbed Evy and Dante with Lily in his arms out of the way while Ven did the same with Des. Travis had rammed his fist dead into the tree and made it break in half and the top of it topple over to the side.

"Damnit hold still!" He yelled as Terra got into his fighting pose and summoned his keyblade. He noticed the weird get up he was wearing, loose black athletic pants with black boots and tight mma red fighting gloves, his father's personal wrestling suit of choice

"Hold still? Why'd you even do that!?" he barked at him as Des joined in while she was still on the ground with Ven ontop of her from pushing her away

"Yeah dad what the heck!?" she said as Elise pulled herself up

"Travis you've done some questionable things in the eightteen years I've known you but why would you…!?"

"SHUT UP YOU LOOSEMOUTH BITCHES!" he said making Des and Elise gasp as did everyone else

"How dare you call them that!" Terra yelled at him as Travis focused his view on him

"How dare I? How dare I! How dare you leave!"

"I did not leave you and mom let me go!" Terra yelled back as Travis growled

"You stupid idiot I thought I taught you not to listen to anyone but me. Her opinion doesn't matter at all" he said as Elise gasp then glared at him

"Why you muscled headed bastard…!"

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!"

"You leave her alone!" Terra yelled at him as Travis brought his gaze back to him

"And I was drunk the night he took you away from me! Now you're coming back home and doing what I made you to be!" he barked at his son clenching his fists even tighter as clenched his blade even tighter out of anger.

"There is no way you're taking me home" he said in a calm rage filled voice

"I wasn't asking HYAAAHHH!" he yelled out as he rushed like a bull to Terra who quickly dodge, making Travis ram into a wall and actually crack into the stone that it was made of. Travis had hitten himself hard on the head and after taking himself out of the wall took five seconds for all the stars to disappear around him.

"Ven, Aqua!" Terra called out as his two friends looked at him "Get everyone out of here now!"

"But Terra…" Ven tried to say

"No buts Ven get my mom and sister out of and Aqua do the same to your family"

"But we can help!" Ven said as at that moment Travis shook his head around then growled as Terra gritted down on his teeth

"Go now!" Terra said as a second later his father rushed and rammed into him causing him to fly past his and Aqua's mother to the near borderline of the steps that lead down to the front entrance. Travis chuckled as he walked foreward toward him

"You got weak…" he said then let a sinister chuckle "…I'm gonna have fun breaking you back into shape" just as he was only a few steps away from Terra, who was on the ground trying find out which of his ribs were shifted from that blow, Elise got in his way arms stretched out as far as she could

"Out of the way Elise"

"No!"

"No?"

"That's right no! I'm sick of this and the way you treat me and our children!"

"Let's get one thing straight here Destiny is not my child, she's your mistake for forgetting to take your pill one night" he said his words as icy as space. Des looked at her dad with an intense scowl. A torrent of rage and sadness rushed through her as she got up and away from Ven

"Des get back here!" Ven shouted to her but she didn't listen and proceeded to stand in front of her mother and spread out her arms

"You too?" he asked as she nodded then stood as confident as she could along with her mother.

"Guys…'huff'… get away…"

"No Terra he has to stop this!" Des said

"It's inhuman what you do!" Elise said as Travis chuckled again. Then with one swing of his left arm he sent Des flying toward the wall

"Destiny!" Elise yelled out in horror as a not even a split second later he swung his right arm across Elise's face making her fall onto the ground hard and start to bleed out her nose.

"MOM!" Terra yelled then groaned out in pain as his father laid one of his big fat heavy feet on his, what he was sure of, broken rib cage. Terra began to cough up small trickles of blood as his dad grinned at his son's torture.

"In case your that's revenge for leaving me for all those years" he said in a silent voice that only Terra heard

"Hey how are you getting me home if you can't get there?" Terra said in a painful whisper as he felt another blood filled cough come on as his father pressed down on him harder.

"That's easy, that stupid key of yours can get off here I know because your so called master brought us here with his. Way I see it I could probably use that key get home myself" he said pressing down harder as Terra found it harder to breathe. His grip began to loosen from his keyblade queuing his father to snatch it from him.

Aqua and Ven were watching from the sidelines in horror, Ven stunned in fright at what he did to Des and Aqua staying close to her family to keep them safe should his rage turn toward them. Her mother was holding onto Dante and Evy in a tight hug, hushing them that everything would be alright. Just as Terra's father grasped his son's blade and started to admire it in his hands did Ven snap of his paralyzed state of fear and stood up with a rage filled expression on his face.

"Ven, get down!" she said in a loud whisper as Ven shook his head then summoned his head then pointed to Travis, as if to indicate something to Aqua.

"Now with this stupid key I can finally go home, and heck maybe I'll keep it as a backstratcher" he said as he was starting to point the blade straight infront of him, thinking that would do something that would take him home. While he was having his moment of stupid Ven ran up to him keyblade in hand and hit him across his back. He let out a pain filled yell accompanied by some rapid breathing as he surpressed the pain.

"WHO THE FUCK DID THAT!?" he yelled, taking his foot off Terra and doing a quick turn about as Ven jumped back a couple of feet and stood in his battle pose, looking very mad. "You little shit I'm gonna pound ya!"

"Bring it on!" he yelled in a confident voice as Travis charged toward him just like he did Terra. But just like Terra Ven dodge just in time for him to hit the wall.

"Aqua heal Terra, Des and their mom, I don't think I can hold him back for long" Ven said as Aqua nodded then turned around to her mother

"Mom take Dante and Evy and hide. Will find you when we got this handle"

"Aqua I'm not going leave you to fight this man!" Claire said almost appalled that her daughter would ask her that

"Mom I don't want you guys to get hurt now take them away now"

"Not unless you come with us"

"Mom I…"

"Aqua!" Ven yelled in a nervous voice as Travis got himself out of the wall. Aqua needed to work fast, but right now she needed her family out of here. Knowing her mother wouldn't listen she went for the only people who would listen

"Evy, Dante get mom out of here and hide I'm counting on you too"

"Don't have to tell us twice!" Evy yelled as she and Dante each took one of their mother's hands and started to drag her away from the room

"Hey! Let go!"

"Mom we gotta listen Aqua" Evy said as she and Dante found hard to keep pulling her as she resisted

"Listen to your mother! Aqua come with us now!"

"Sorry mom but people need me" she said then turned back around and ran over to Terra while Ven was using his superior agility over Travis, as he dodged his punches and even a couple swings with Terra's keyblade. Aqua drew out her blade then rose up in the air "Heal!" Green aura's then surrounded Terra, Des, and Elise as they began to come to. The instant Terra woke up he tried to get on his feet "Woah hold it give it a couple seconds"

"I can't I need to stop him before he wrecks the castle…" Terra said as he watched Ven narrowly dodging his father's fists and his blade. Knowing Ven couldn't last forever he quickly reached out his hand and concentrated on summoning his keyblade back to him. While as he did that Travis was swinging the blade toward Ven's head when in a instant it vanished

"What the…?" he question before receiving a blow below the chin from Ven's blade, kocking him down hard onto the ground as he dealt with the immense pain in both his head and chipped or cracked teeth. As soon as he was on the ground Ven regrouped with his friends

"I don't think that's gonna keep him down for long" Ven said as Terra nodded

"Your right I've seen him take worse blows"

"Then what's the plan?" Aqua asked

"In short take you and Ven take my mom and Des and hide them in the castle so he can't get to them"

"What about you?" Ven asked as a second later Terra put away his keyblade then knelt down to the ground and opened a wooden box that got sifted over to him when his dad rammed into the wall again. He took out the fighting gloves Aqua got him and made sure they were on tight before cracking his knuckles

"I can't use the keyblade, he can weild it just like me and I don't want him to figure out how to force me home with it. So… I'm gonna give him what he wants" he said shocking Ven and Aqua

"You can't be serious!"

"Terra he just knocked you out! You can't do this!" Aqua said as Terra started for his dad who was starting to get back up

"You skinless little chicken shit, you don't know when to stay down…" Travis said with a snicker at the end "… I like that. It'll make you a better fighter"

"Terra…"

"Take them and go!" Terra yelled at Aqua and Ven. Both looked perplexed at what they should do but Ven came to the quicker realization then Aqua that Terra could do this. He was the toughest guy he knew he had to win.

"Aqua you take his mom I got Des" he said as Aqua looked at him like he was crazy

"Were not leaving he needs us"

"Aqua I barely made a dent in that guy, what chance could we really have against him." He said as he rushed over to Des and hoisted her onto his shoulder "At least with Terra he knows how he fights and that's all he'll need to win" He said then ran off into the castle as Aqua starred at Terra who was getting in a fighting stance while his father took on a more wild fighting stance

"Terra…"

"Aqua… please take my mother I don't want her to get hurt" He said in angry calm voice. Aqua could sense the complete and utter seriousness in his voice, it almost scared her. As much as she didn't want to, she ran over to Elise and hoisted her up on her back.

"Beat him Terra" she said before running off in the same direction as Ven. All the while Travis was watching her

"Well you may a disloyal son but I gotta say you got good taste in girls" He said making Terra even angrier "Seriously just look at that as…"

"Shut your mouth!" he yelled making him stop his oggling and look directly at his son "You will never take about her like that again!" he said in a growl as his father grinned

"You got a nice fire to you boy! This will definitely be a fight I'll cherish"

"Or regret" he said as his father cringed his fingers while Terra cracked his neck before egging him on. His father chuckled, never understanding the true meaning of the phrase learn from your mistakes

"Very well HYAHHH!" he yelled out as he rushed his son who cocked backed his right fist while set up a defense with his left arm, ready for the fight he had always seen coming.


	30. Unite

Evy and Dante had forced their mother backed to her room and closed the door shut and stood there guarding it.

"Guys stand away from the door!" she told them in an authorative voice but they didn't budge "Eveline and Dante you will listen to your mother and get out of the way!" she yelled, using Evy's full name to show how serious she was.

"No mom!" Evy yelled back

"Aqua told us to hide and that's what we're going to do!" Dante yelled to his mother as Lily began to bark because of everyone yelling. Claire got even Angrier as she began to take angry stomps toward them

"Get out of the way or else Aqua might…!" she said but when she was about to push her children out of the way Evy pulled back her hand then with two of her fingers struck her mom in the neck immobilizing her. She lost consciousness and control of her limbs and fell to the ground below. Dante looked at the scene in shock as he quickly knelt to his mother

"Mom mommy!" he yelled as he shook her while Lily tried barking at her to try and help her master wake up his mother

"I'm sorry…" Evy said as she knelt down to her mother and checked to see if she was breathing. Which she was, she was getting better at doing this "… but you needed to calm down"

"Evy you shouldn't have done that"

"I know…" she said as she got back up "… just like I know I probably shouldn't do this" she said opening the door

"Evy don't!" Dante jumped up as Evy stopped leaving the room

"Dante stay here with mom… I have go help Aqua"

"No don't! Terra's dad is way to mean for you, only Aqua, Terra, and Ven could beat him" he said frantically not wanting his sister to get hurt as Lily barked like she was agreeing with him. Evy knew he was right, for a toddler he was actually pretty smart and made his point clear. If she was to help him maybe she'd be able to slow him down because she'd just be another target for him, and he was pretty dim and she could outwit him. But she wasn't really fast so dodging him would be difficult, and the possibility of getting close enough to hit his pressure point was probably slim to none without getting hurt. But… maybe it was guilt she was feeling from what she did last night or the greater guilt that she has been such a brat over the course of these couple of days to her family and these nice people that she was content on going through with this.

"You're right Dante. But I'm not going to listen…" she said before she ran off in a full sprint out the room and down the hallway as Dante and Lily quickly got of the room and watched his sister run down the hall. Dante didn't know what to do, stay with his unconscious mother or… go make sure his sister doesn't get hurt. If he did either one he'd be breaking a promise, which he didn't like doing. He knew if he went after his sister he might get hurt. But he if he just stayed it was only a matter of time before that might come find him and mommy and beat them up. Either way he'd get hurt but only with one option might his mom be ok… probably.

"Come on Lily! We gotta help them" he said confidently as Lily let out a yip to say yes as they ran down the hallway after Evy.

**Meanwhile**

Ven and Aqua had rushed down to Elise's room and had set them both down. Elise was still out like a light but Des had come to a little bit after Ven had started running down the hallway.

"Des stay here with your mom" Ven said as Des shot up to a sitting position on the bed

"No! Take me back there with you!"

"We can't do that Des. Your father just showed us he's more than willing to hurt anyone, including you, to get your brother to come home" Aqua said as Ven nodded

"Just stay here ok we'll make sure Terra comes out a-ok" Ven said as Des shook her head

"You both don't understand there's only one way to stop him when he's like this!"

"What do you mean?" Aqua asked

"You mean he's done this before?" Ven asked as Des nodded

"Every time my mother, Terra, or even I would disagree with him he'd go on a small rampage till he gets what he wants. But over the years my mom figured out a way to make him stop so he wouldn't hurt us too bad or even at all." She said as she raised her hand out then made a fist with her index and middle fingers extended. Ven looked at her hand curiously as Aqua looked at her knowing what she meant

"You know how to use pressure points?" she asked getting a nod as a response

"After Terra left he got worse, so she taught me. She's used this for years to stop him from pushing Terra to far in his training or hurting me" She said as Aqua gasped and Ven held back a growl, he was truly a monster "If you guys can get me close enough I can knock him out and you guys can lock him away to where ever he can't hurt us" She said as Ven looked at Aqua looked back at him.

"I say we let her help" Ven said as Aqua took in few more moments to think this through. She finally came to the conclusion that there were strength in numbers, so…

"Second it, c'mon Des will distract your dad long enough for you to get your shot. But please be careful" Aqua said stressing on the being careful part as Des got up. She still felt weak from last night and she was a little scarred about trying to knock out her dad. But she had to do this, for Terra she'd do anything. That boost of courage is what got her on her feet and forced them not to wobble and run with Aqua and Ven back to Terra to take out her dad.

**Back with the fight…**

It was bloody. Simple as that

Neither one was holding back any bit of strength they had. Punch after punch, each one scrapping off a little bit of skin from the other drawing blood. Travis would jab Terra's side as hard as he could, making him wince and drawing the opportunity for him to punch the side of his face causing blood to spatter from his mouth and nose. Then he kept going at it, right on his face, left near his ear, right, left, right, left. Total carnage

"HA your weak! Some help your master is now!" He yelled out charging up a huge right hook. Terra quickly raised his right arm and blocked it then growled at his father before using his left hand to grab his father's arm then flipped him onto the ground, using his own weight against him.

"At least he taught me ways to beat monsters like you!" he said then quickly cocked back his right fist then slammed it into his father's back making him yell in pain. Terra then quickly went into a punching frenzy, hit him all over his back, shoulders, neck, and the back of his head. As this went on Travis' grunts of slowly escalated into a steady laugh that became a hysterical fit. On Terra's last punch he flexed his back causing his muscles to tighten and when Terra hit them it felt like he was hitting steel. He yelled in pain as he stumble back a few steps while Travis hopped back on his feet, all while laughing.

"Thanks for the back rub, it was like a little chinawoman tapping her tiny hands all over my back" he said as Terra looked at him with a scowl mixed with pain from his hand. "Give it up son" he said then charged back his fist, not even giving Terra a chance to brace himself as he felt the entirety of the blow pierce, but not literally, through his chest sending him flying to the wall. When he hit it he slowly slid to the ground and when he hit the floor he coughed up some his blood as his eyes struggled to stay opened. "I taught you everything you know about fighting and anything, no matter how big or small, your so called master has taught you is completely useless." He said as he walked over to him and pressed his foot down on his chest making Terra let out a pain filled gag, it made him laugh. "Now squeak like the little chewtoy you are" he said pressing down harder making him scream out in pain and putting a grin on his face. He let some of the weight off of him but only to put it back on him to hear him scream. Then he kept doing it again and again, till he finally took it off and pulled him up by his collar and brought him sp close to his face that he could feel his father breath on him. "Now what I have done, unbelievable to you maybe, is not permanent you won't even feel the slightest bit of a reminder of this little fight if and only if you take out that stupid key and take me home" he said sternly as Terra said something in a almost inaudible voice "Say that again" he said as he Terra looked at him straight in the eye and spat blood in his face. Travis immediately threw Terra onto the floor a few feet away. He landed on his back and struggled to even move as his father inched his way toward him "You know what I'll just keep beating it out of you" he said he began to cock back his right fist, ready to strike Terra another time before

"FREEZE!"

"Huh!?" he asked as a brisk wind came over him and froze his legs, arms, and even some of his neck were completely frozen solid in ice. "What the!?"

"Ok Des now!" Travis turned his head as much as he could to see his daughter and his sons friends at the hallway entrance with Des rushing to him

"Hey what the hell are you!?"

"Shut up dad!" she yelled at him as she jumped up to reach his neck and cocked back her fingers and pierced them in his pressure point. He cringed as his body went limp, but since it was encased in ice it didn't move at all, only his head fell to the side as he slipped into unconsciousness. Aqua and Ven quickly ran over to Terra who was barely conscious enough to know they were right next to him

"Ven gotta work fast" Aqua said as Ven nodded

"Ok on 3…1, 2, 3…" He said as he and Aqua rose their blades and yelled out "Heal!". A bright green aura quickly worked its way through Terra's body, sealing up wounds and putting bones back in place. In a matter of moments Terra had reawaken, letting out a small groan as his eyes opened.

"Oh thank god…" Aqua said as Des rushed over to them and got on her knees and looked at her brother slumped against the wall as his eyes opened

"Des…?"

"Terra!" she said as she quickly wrapped him in a hug. While Terra just looked at her then at Ven and Aqua

"What are you guys doing here I told you to hide" he said as Des broke the hug and pushed him back by his shoulders

"Terra if we didn't come back you would've been in really bad shape"

"Yeah and there's only so much magic can do for you" Ven said as gestured out his hand to take as Terra took it and let him help him up.

"If anything were to happened to you then i…" Aqua began before Terra said

"I know I know" he said then sighed "I just wanted to make sure you guys didn't get hurt was all" he said as Des grinned and patted him on the shoulder

"Always wanting to keep people safe, that's the brother I know" she said as Terra grinned at her. She did really know him

"DON'T WORRY AQUA IM HERE TO… help?" Evy said as she ran into the room ready to help, only to see that Terra's father had already been taken care of and everyone else was ok. "Oh come on!" she yelled out frustrated

"Evy?" Aqua asked

"And Dante!" Dante yelled out as he ran up to Evy's side with Lily trailing behind him

"What are you doing here I told you to stay with mom!?" Evy asked in a angry surprised tone

"Like I'd listen to you and I wanted to help so here I am"

"Well sorry to tell you this but Terra's dad has been taken care of" Aqua said as she walked over to them "But I told you guys to stay with mom and stay safe"

"Well we were worried about you getting hurt so we wanted to help" Dante said as Evy sighed then looked at Terra's now frozen dad

"But I guess we came to late, he's out cold now literally" she said as she walked over to the icicle and tapped it with her hand

"Evy! Stay away from him" Aqua told her as Evy rolled her eyes

"What he's frozen solid…" she said as a little crack formed in the ice "… this muscleheaded steroid using idiot isn't going anywhere" then Travis' eyes shot open as the ice began to crack more making everyone gasp in shock except Evy "What are you guys looking at?'

"HYAH!" Travis yelled as he flexed his muscles breaking the ice as Evy turned around and store at him with utter fear coursing through her body. He looked down and glared at her

"So who called me steroid using idiot?"


	31. Say goodbye

Evy screamed then quickly ran over to her sister and got behind her as Aqua, Terra, and Ven got into a fighting stance, Ven and Aqua having there keyblades out while Terra had only his bare hands. Dante and Evy tried to look as tough as they could taking familiar stances that they were copying from their respective older sibling.

"You're gonna be one sorry bitch for trying to do that to your father Destiny"

"How are you even standing?" Des asked "Every time mom did that to you at home you were knocked out for hours" she said as Travis let out a sinister chuckle that almost made everyone flinch, thinking he was gonna charge.

"Your dumbass mother thinks she's so smart doesn't she? Well I caught on to that weird neck poke a year after Terra left and trained myself to escape from the blackout it gives me." He said as everyone cringed their one gambit against him was now thrown completely out the window. "Des may have caught me off guard and knocked me out for a grand total of a minute or two but that won't happen again." He said glaring at his daughter who wasn't allowing herself to show any fear, she didn't want to give him the pleasure of seeing her like that. Then he focused his gaze on Terra, still standing resolute and angry at his father "one last chance son, take me home along with yourself and take my place and make me all the money I deserve or not only you but all these snaggly little shits will pay dearly even the kid with the dog" he said as Dante didn't even flinch at him saying that he would hurt him.

"Guys…" Terra began

"No" Everyone but Evy said as Travis snarled with a smile

"So be it!" he yelled rushing toward them. Everyone quickly dodged, Evy just running for the hallway where she came from. Terra stood stagnant and confident as his father bolted toward him. As he was only a couple feet away from him, Terra cocked back his fist and rammed it as hard as he could in his father's face. The sheer force of the blow made Travis get pushed back a yard or two. He kept his footing making sure he wouldn't fall. He shook his head as he felt blood start to slowly stream out his nose and his upper lip.

"Aqua!"

"On it she yelled out as she pointed her blade at Travis as a second later a thick stream of lightning cracked through the air and zapped Travis as he gritted his teeth and collapsed onto one knee as the pain engulfed his body.

"Ven!" Aqua shouted as Ven jumped into action and just like Aqua pointed out his blade at Travis

"Wind!" He yelled as Travis was hoisted off the ground, nearly touching the ceiling. "Evy you know any other of those pressure point things?" he asked as she nodded

"My mom taught me practically everything"

"Great then in 5 seconds hit him with everything you got" he said as she nodded "ok Aqua cut it off!" he yelled as he and Aqua both stopped. Travis then hit the ground hard, making a slight indent as Des rushed toward him and hit every possible pressure point she knew would immobilize or cause him pain in anyway. Then she jumped back and looked at her brother

"Terra finish him off!" without any hesitation Terra rushed toward him and jumped on him causing him to cough up a little blood as Terra began to insanely punch his father's head till it was all puffed and purple. Aqua and Ven couldn't believe the furiousity in his eyes, it was scary. Terra unloaded all his pain and even Des' onto his father till his fists were sore. Then he looked at his father's face all puffy and purple then got up and walked away from him

"Stay down" he said as he walked over to Ven and Aqua, who looked scarred at him. Then he looked at Des and Dante who looked just as scarred as they were. Even Evy from the hallway looked as scarred or even more scarred then all of them. Terra was breathing deeply as he looked around at everyone and said

"I'm sorry" Terra said as he collapsed to the ground making everyone rush toward him and get down on their knees.

"Terra!" Aqua said as Terra looked at her with a slight smile

"Sorry im just… beat from getting all that hate off my shoulders" he said as he used his hands to take off the gloves striking Aqua as odd. Terra then tossed them behind them, hitting his father in the head "there take your damn gift back…" he said trying to stand back up as Aqua finally figured it out.

'Terra thought his dad got him the gloves?' she thought to herself as Terra took in deep breaths then looked at them

"Could you guys help me to my room?" he ask as Aqua chuckled with a nod

"Ven you get his right I got his left" She told him as Ven nodded and got on his left side. The friends heaved their friend up as they began to take him away. Dante, Evy, and Des stayed by their respective siblings sides as they got Terra out of there

"When we get you back to your room me and Ven will patch you up" Aqua said

"Yeah you deserve a good rest" Ven said as Des interjected

"Wait but what about dad Terra? Isn't he just going to wake up in a little bit?" Des asked as Terra looked over to her weakly

"Don't worry he'll be out for awhile and Aqua can you please come back and send my father back to my home?" He asked as Aqua nodded

"Sure Terra"

"Problem solved he'll be gone and we'll can get back to Christ…DAHHHH!" Ven shouted as he forced forward into the wall causing Terra to fall onto his left knee as Terra slouched down from taking all of Terra's weight

"VEN!" Des and Evy yelled in near unison as a spilt second later Des shoved onto the ground then her felt her feet get stomped on making her scream out in pain. Then before anyone could get a good look at what was happening. Evy was punched on her chest to ground, she yelled out in pain as she felt with each heart beat a surge of pain go through her. Dante quickly ran out of there to the hallway as Aqua and Terra looked at who had did this.

"No…"

"You shouldn't even be able to stand" Terra said as the being laughed manically

"Never wound what you can't kill" Travis said coldly as Aqua quickly drew out her keyblade, leaving Terra on the ground, and rushed his father. But Travis was ready, he quickly reached out and grabbed her by her and was clutching down on it. Aqua tried to struggle, her keyblade falling from her hands onto the ground as she did, which Travis grinned at as he slammed her to the ground.

"NO!" Terra yelled as he mustered up all his strength to stand and start to run over to him before he did something else to Aqua. Then Travis held up his free hand in to tell him to stop

"If you value her life you wont try anything smart!" he yelled as he squeezed her neck a little tighter making her let out a silent airless scream.

"No stop!" Terra yelled as his father chuckled then loosened his grip enough for Aqua to breath

"Good now take me home!" He barked at him as Terra hesitantly drew his keyblade then pointed it out and opened a portal to traverse town. "Good boy now come on" he said he hoped a unconscious Aqua over his shoulder

"What are you doing with her? Leave her here"

"Yeah no" his father said coldly as he chuckled then looked at Aqua "She's not to bad lookin' and you're not gonna last forever as a fighter I'm going to need a grandson and seein how much fight she has she'll make a nice one with you" he said as Terra balled up his fists and let out a growl "ah ah ah you bark…" he said as he balled up a fist and pointed it next to her head resting upside down on his upper chest "… and I'll bite". Terra was backed in a corner everyone was down, he couldn't hurt his dad without hurting Aqua. There only seemed one way he could get her out of this alive. He sighed as he looked at his father

"Ok… you win" he said as his father struck a grin

"Finally now lets go I got a couple fights you can go to right now" he said as he faced the portal and began to walk toward it. Terra hated how much he couldn't do anything right now, that he was letting his destiny be molded by this brute. But he couldn't change anything, his dad had all the cards in his hand and he had none. He sighed once more as he preceded into the portal with his father. "Say good bye to this place Terra, you'll never see it again"

**It's like a movie! I can't wait to finish this up! The next one should be the last one! And thank god I'll have finally finished a story with this one! Now I'll leave you with this cliff hanger. See ya in the last chapter**


	32. Good ridance

**Remember when I said should be the final chapter? Yeah sorry I bit off more than I could chew and needed to break the final chapter into 2 chapters otherwise I'd be rushing through this. I'm sorry but hey anything to make sure this is the great story it deserves to be**

Dante watched from the hallway as he saw Terra surrender and begin to enter the portal with Travis and Aqua. Dante cringed at the sight of Travis and his smug look, and forcing his sister to come with him. There was only so much Dante could take before he broke. He rushed back out there and stood as tall as he could as Travis was on the near of brink of entering the portal.

"Hey!" He yelled getting Travis and Terra's attention "Out my sister down now!" he yelled as angry as he could, which only made Travis erupt in a torrent of laughter.

"Ahahaahhhahaha! Look at the wittle baby all fuscled up because of his sister" He said through laughter as Terra looked down at him

"Dante get out of here i…"

"No Terra!" He yelled as he looked at the ground and found Aqua's keyblade and picked it up by it's handle with both his hands, struggling to hold it. Travis began to lighten his laughter as he saw what Dante was holding.

"Oh look shrimp is gonna use that useless thing!" he said as he looked at with another laugh and a snort, but that didn't folly the determined look on his face. Terra knew there was some truth in what his father said, only one worthy of the keyblade could use it, otherwise the blade would disappear and return to its rightful wielder. "Listen kid, I'm going to say this simply for you. Even if you were tall enough for this ride there's no way you could even try to hurt me and not hurt your sister"

"I DON'T CARE!" he yelled out as Travis eyes went wide as did Terra's "I don't care because even though I'm just a kid, I know my sister wouldn't want to go with a jerk like you!" He said anger radiating off him at this point. Travis looked at him taking in the seriousness in his scowl, the anger engraved in his face… and merely laughed at it.

"BWHAHhahahahaha! What have you been smoking? Or rather what tity have you been sucking on to even think you stand a chance against me?" he said starting to laugh his ass off as Terra just remained silent. Dante growled before he steady his grip on the blade and pointed it at Travis.

"WIND!" he yelled out as Terra looked away knowing what would happen next. Spell doesn't work, keyblade goes back to Aqua, his dad punches Dante into the ground. He closed his eyes shut expecting this. But…

"AHAHAhaha… huh ah Ahhh!" Travis went from laughing like a hyena to screaming like a little school girl. Terra opened his eyes and looked at a amazing sight. Dante had casted a great cyclone onto his father and it was greater than the one Ven casted earlier. It was juggling him in its center and a unconscious Aqua too.

"Terra!" Dante yelled at him snapping him back to reality

"Huh?"

"Grab Aqua!" He yelled at him as Terra looked in the cyclone and saw Aqua twirling around in it. Terra, working fast, reached into the vortex and using all his strength tore Aqua out of there and held onto her tightly in his arms as he rushed away from the strong vortex.

"Got her!"

"Fire!" Dante yelled as a firball rushed out of Aqua's keyblade and into the vortex where it ignited and turned the vortex into a flame-nado. Travis screamed out in pain causing Des, Ven, and Evy to stir from their unconscious states and see what was happening. Ven and Des were awestruck at the sight of Seeing Dante do this. Evy didn't notice she was to busy keeping her head down. The fire began to slowly die down as Dante slouched his arms down, the weight of the keyblade starting to weigh out his arms. Travis was on the ground of a semi charred floor. Parts of his body were chared, most notably his the left side of his face. He was breathing heavy as he looked up and saw Terra holding Aqua and looking shocked that his father was still conscious

"Why won't you just stay knocked out already?" Terra asked angrily as Travis got up and slowly, painfully, started walking to his son

"You are coming home… Now!" He yelled as Terra glared at his father and started to set Aqua down. One more punch or two should force him into the portal

"Please Terra don't stop doing what you're doing…" Someone said as Terra and Travis looked over to the stairs that lead to the front doors. Terra smiled as Travis scowled

"Yes master" he said as he picked Aqua back up

"You little shit I'm gonna…!"

"You shall be leaving now!" Master Eraqus barked as he preceded forward "You have been nothing but a nuisance, a disturbance to my other gracious guests, and a major pain for one of my best students! You shall leave this castle, Force!" He yelled out as with a swipe of his hand he began pushing a unknown force onto Travis causing him to be pushed back slowly to the portal. He tried to fight it but all his might was failing him to this magic

"He's my son! I CHOOSE HIS DESTINY!" he yelled as Eraqus glared at Travis

"Only one person holds control of a destiny and you hold no power over Terra's. He chooses to be hero rather than you. Get that through your head! Now leave!" he yelled as with another shrug of his arm he finally pushed Travis into the portal. "Terra close it!" Eraqus said as Tera nodded then redrew out his blade then pointed it to the portal. A beam of light shot of his blade and quickly took care of the portal. Travis with his last amount of energy tried to run back into the portal but was given the door and crashed into a wall in the first district as random pedestrians looked at him like some homeless bum.

Eraqus looked around at his castle as he drew out his keyblade

"I leave you all for a day and this what becomes of the castle?" he asked rhetorically as he raised his blade up, a small ball of light building at the end of it. Then it a burst the ball popped and streams of light began to go everywhere, fixing the damages caused by Travis. Walls uncrumbling, the already opened presents rewrapping themselves, even the decorations coming back into place, in the end Eraqus looked at his castle with a smile as he saw everything put back into place. Then looking at those still on the ground wound her pointed his blade toward them and uttered his last spell to make everything right "Heal" he simply said as a green aura engulfed the room. Ven, Des, and Evy found strength return to their legs and Aqua had reawakened in Terra's arms.

"Terra?" she asked as Terra grinned down at her happy that she was alright. "Terra?"

"What?"

"Could you please put me down?" Terra felt a shot of embarrassment rush through him as he quickly put her down on her legs.

"Sorry" he said as Aqua let out a small laugh and leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek, which Terra blushed to.

"Bleh!" Dante said as he saw his sister do that. Now he knows his sister has cooties

"Ventus, Aqua, Terra line up" Eraqus said as Aqua and Terra snapped out of their moment and walked over to their master. Ven quickly got to his feet before Evy and Des did. They stood shoulder to shoulder as their master looked at them, not mad but definitely didn't look happy "What happened?"

"Master the fault is mine…" Terra spoke up his master restricting his gaze on him "… my father tried to force me to go home with him and I refused. We were the ones who wrecked the entrance hall and I apologize. I'll take whatever punishment you shall give me master" He said as the expression on his face very slightly changed to surprised

"Terra I do not wish to give you any punishment" he said shocking Terra "I merely wished to know what happened in my absence. Besides for the most part it seems you kept this castle well and protected" He said

"But my father…"

"You defended everyone from him, in my mind you still you job even if I had to use a little magic to fix up some odds and ends" he said as he gently smiled at his students "Come on it's Christmas get happy" he said as he patted Terra on the shoulder to snap him out of his rut, to which Terra grinned

"I missed you master"

"We all did" Aqua said as she got close and hugged him and then a second later Ven joined in

"Please never leave us again!" he said as his master let out a laugh

"Geez maybe I should leave more often" He said as he enjoyed the hug while Des, Dante, and Evy watched on the scene and saw the love that was in this family. Their master then broke the hug and asked them to go make sure the mothers were ok.

"Aqua if may if I may ask could you stay here I must have a word with you" He asked as Aqua remained in line as Ven and Terra walked over to everyone else. Terra went to go see that his mother was alright while everyone else went to go check on Claire. Des was going because Evy told her that she did the pressure point thing on her mom and she needed her to wake her up quick, Ven was going just to make sure everything stayed cool between these two girls. When everyone left the room Eraqus store at his pupil

"Are you going to retrieve that?"

"Huh?"

"Your keyblade" he pointed over to the ground where Dante used to be standing

"Oh" she said as she stretched out her arm and summoned her keyblade back to her

"The keyblade is a truly mysterious weapon" he said as Aqua turned back to him "It only chooses a select few to wield it. And I now see that we have a additional wielder in the castle"

"Huh?"

"Oh right you were unconscious my dear pupil. To put it simple your brother holds the power too" he said shocking Aqua

"What?"

"He holds the same power as you Aqua"

"There's no way"

"It is not uncommon for the power to linger in bloodlines. I saw it with my own eyes Aqua, he has it" Aqua began to panic inside. While she knew that if this was true it would be great, she'd be able to relate with her brother even more and could even help teach him. But she knew that if her master saw him with this power he was going to take him from her family and train him immediately, he'd miss out on his childhood.

"Master please don't take him from my family. He's too young for training…"

"Aqua.."

"… he needs to be a kid…"

"Aqua…"

"… otherwise he'll feel empty and like he missed out on…"

"Aqua!" He yelled silencing her "Geez what is with my pupils rushing to conclusions today"

"I'm sorry master. I just needed to get my point across" she answered as her master nodded

"As you did and you completely right"

"Excuse me?" She said shocked that her master thought she was correct

"Your right, one day he will need to be trained. He could truly one day be a great master. But without a proper childhood to understand what and who he's protecting from the darkness then he'll mearly be in a manner of saying a rebel without a cause by the time he reaches your age. He shall live normally till he reaches the age of 13 in which case I put it on to you that you will teach him, soon to be master Aqua" when she heard that last part her ears pricked up as she noticed a happy expression on her master's face

"Master are you saying what I think your saying?"

"Yes my dear pupil. In a matter of a couple months you and Terra shall be ready for the mark of mastery exam, and I am so confident that you both shall pass" Aqua was on the verge of tears. Her master believed she was ready, and if she did become a master she could go home, she could be there for her family again. "Do not cry rejoice Aqua" he said as he began to walk toward the tree to find his gifts, not before giving his pupil another quick hug. "Oh and Aqua I must ask something of you" he said making Aqua do a 180 to face him near the tree

"Anything my master"

"Before Dante leaves perform the oath on him"

"Yes master" she said without question

"Good, now I believe you should check on your mother. While I find my gifts" he said as Aqua grinned watching her master find his gifts like a little kid before she ran off to her mother's room.

"What is black cube?" Eraqus asked as he found his first gift

**Meanwhile…**

Terra walked into his mother's room to see his mom on her bed laying peacefully. She still looked beautiful even with the hand shaped mark engraved on her cheek. Terra make little work of this drew out his blade and casted cure over her. The mark vanished as she stirred in her sleep and began to wake.

"Mom" he said as her eyes slowly began to open

"Terra…" she said as she smiled "…your safe"

"And so are you" he said as knelt down next to her bedside and looked at her "Dad's gone" he said reassuringly as his mom adjusted herself to a sitting up position.

"Really?" she said in mild disbelief as Terra nodded reassuring her. Elise looked down at her right hand seeing the very cheap piece of gold wrapped around her finger. She quickly plucked it off her finger then threw it to the corner of the room. "Finally" she said happily as Terra smiled. His mom was happy now, happy, and he made it happen. But then he realized something

"Mom eventually you're going to have to go back there" he said as she looked at her son

"I know but when I get there me and Des are moving out of the house and get as far away from him as possible. Then I'm going to become a florist to support me and Des"

"But he'll find you, I know he will" he said, seeing how realisticly this wouldn't work

"I know but I have to try, I don't want to be near him anymore" she said sadness brisking into her voice at the end. Seeing his mom sad was something Terra truly hated, but it was true his mom plan was flaued so long as they lived in traverse town. But wait that was it…

"Wait… I know how you can get away from him" Terra said as his mother looked at him

"What?"

"What if I moved you to another world, like Aqua's family's world?"

"Huh?"

"If I moved you there then dad would never be able to get to you no matter how hard he tried. And you'll already have a friend there Aqua's mom likes you"

"That is true"

"Mom please… move there" he said staring intensely at his mom. She saw the sincerity in his eyes, the one desire he had of just wanting her safe. And she melted into his hands

"Ok let's do it"

"Great" he said getting "I need to tell my master and I'll get yours and Des' stuff for you from the house"

"Thank you Terra"

"No problem…" he said heading for the door "…after all what are sons for?"


	33. The grand finale

Terra walked steadily to the entrance hall, the recent talk with his mother still lingering in his mind. Moving his mother and of course his sister to another world wasn't as easy as just moving to a new house. There are certain laws of the worlds enforced by the keyblade wielders, and Master Eraqus, while being understanding of the situation, would not be swayed to this idea so easily. Terra finnaly go to the enterance hall to find his master in a chair he hadn't seen before looking at the watch he bought.

"Master?"

"Oh yes Terra" Master Eraqus said as he hopped of his chair pressed a button and watched it turn back into a tiny cube

"Whoa" Terra said as his master picked up the cube and put it in his pocket

"That's what I said when I unwrapped this little gift. Also thank you very much for the watch Terra, it was very thoughtful of you all to get me gifts"

"It was nothing master"

"Well I feel a little bad that I didn't get you anything but I do have some great news. You'll be able to take the mark of mastery exam in a couple months my student"

Terra's jaw almost dropped, he was beyond happy to hear that. The years of hard work were about to pay off and end. He was going to be a keyblade master

"Oh my… Thank you master thank you" he said trying to hide the ecstatic tone in his voice, but failing. His master let out a chuckled as he patted his student on the shoulder

"You're welcome Terra merry Christmas" he said beginning to walk away. Terra was so happy he almost forgot why he was here. When he snapped out of it he quickly turned around and called out to his master to stop. "Yes Terra?" His master asked as he turned around. Terra gulped any doubt in his mind then spoke clearly and sincerely to his master

"Master… I implore you more than I have with anything before to do this for me. I do not want my mother and sister to go back to my home world. If they go back my father may actually kill them. As a keyblade weilder my duty is to protect people from the darkness and…"

**A little while ago**

Aqua was running down the hallway as she came across Dante who was exiting her mother's room

"Dante" she said catching his attention

"Hi Aqua" he said with a wave of his hand

"Is are the other three still in there?"

"Yeah and…" then they heard there mother shout something that they couldn't make out but it was defiantly aimed at Evy, Des and Ven was only still in there because she didn't have the opportunity to sneak out like Dante so she was stuck in there for that rant. "…I'm glad I'm not in there" he said getting a small laugh out of his sister.

"Hey Dante my master told me what you did back there with my keyblade"

"He did?" he said surprised he saw it

"Yep and he was really impressed"

"He was!" he said a little excited as Aqua nodded

"Yep and he told me to do something for you"

"What's that?" he asked as Aqua summoned her keyblade then knelt down to his level

"He told to make sure you know that one day in the future you can be a keyblade weilder like me"

"Seriously!?" he asked enthusiastically as Aqua nodded again

"And I'll be able to teach you"

"Oh man that's so cool!" he said practically jumping up in the air out of joy

"Whoa calm down, I won't be able to teach you till you get bigger"

"Awww" he said disappointedly as Aqua chuckled a little then rubbed his head with her free hand

"But you get to take the first step towards becoming a weilder"

"Well what's that?" he asked as grabbed her keyblade by its body and had the handle pointing toward him. Aqua cleared her throat as she looked her little brother straight in the eyes, locking in the seriousness of this oath.

"Dante, in this hand take this key and so long as you have the makings then through this simple act of taking its wielder you shall be, and you shall find me brother. The forests that surround are world shall no longer contain you, the seas shall show you no limits. No more borders around or below or above, so long as you champion the ones you love" she said as Dante store at her for a few moments, seeing the seriousness in her eyes. In the past few days he got to know Aqua, he really did learn to love her. She was fun, energetic, and a lot like his mom so he knew he could trust her. But when the tables were down with Terra's dad she was willing to fight to help her friend. Even though he was young he could tell when someone was a good person when they'd get hurt for their friends. And after all that he wanted to be like her, a great person that helps others. So something came naturally inside him that caused him to reach out and grab the handle and finish the oath. They stayed there locked in that position for a good couple of seconds before

"DANTE!" Their mother yelled as they both snapped out of their oath

"Guess you better go back in"

"UGH!" he yelled as he turned around to the door before Aqua quickly grabbed him

"You've gotta keep this a secret, mom might not like the idea of having two keyblade wielders for children" she said as Dante turned his head and nodded

"DANTE!"

"Hurry up" she said giving him a pat on the back as he entered back in the room. With her job done she hurried back to her master to tell him she was done. When she got back to the entrance room she heard her master talking to someone, who she thought was Terra.

"…my duty is to protect people from darkness and I ask you. Master please let me move my family except my father to another world" he said shocking Aqua and their master

"Terra the laws state that this cannot be done"

"Please master don't let them go back there let them stay here if you must" he pleaded as their master shook his head

"I cannot do that either, this land is only for a select few choosen. And also Terra where would they go? If you put them somewhere else they'd struggle to get on their feet and have a place to live? I ask you to think this further through"

"Please master I must get them out of there"

"Terra i…"

"If I can say something…" Aqua interjected as Terra and Master Eraqus looked over at her "…I know it's rude to eavesdrop but I couldn't help but over hear your situation Terra" She said as she took a couple steps forward toward them "My mother and your mother do seem to get along well and if I may ask my mom may be able to house your mother and sister till they get enough a foot hold in say my world to where they can live on their own"

"Aqua are you sure?" he asked as she nodded

"Yes my room at home was rather large and I'm willing to surrender it to your family" she said with a smile as Terra smiled back then to his master

"Master I know this breaks the rules, I know you want me to think this completely through, but please let me do this. They'll be safe, they'll have shelter, and with my mother being as smart as she is she'll have a job so I implore you again please" he said as his master store at him and Aqua, stern and stagnant as ever. He weighed the options, pros and cons of if he let him and didn't let him. Then finally reached his decision

"I'll let you go through with this on one condition" he said as Terra's ears pricked up to him saying that

"Yes anything master"

"Tell your sister to keep a eye on Aqua's brother Dante" he said before finally turning around and re-taking his leave

"Wait why?"

"Ask Aqua" he said as Aqua and Terra had a little conversation

**Meanwhile with Ven…**

All the yelling had stopped, Claire had calmed down and told everyone to leave her be for a little while and that she was glad that they were alright. Everyone left the room, Ven digging in his ears to try and get the ringing out of it.

"Man your mom can yell Evy" he said stressing on the word yell

"Heh yeah sorry guys" she said

"Yeah mommy isn't usually like that" Dante said as Des just shrugged

"It's alright, it's what moms do besides loving you"

"Exactly" Evy said

"And make you cookies!" Dante said as everyone let out a laugh. Out of all the kiddish things Dante has said while in this castle that one really seemed to hit their funny bones

"Alright come on let's head back to the tree, besides I haven't given you guys my gift" Ven said as everyone looked curiously at him

"And what would that be?" Des asked but Ven shook his head

"Can't tell you till it gets dark out"

"Aw your no fun" Evy said playfully as Ven struck a grin

"I just don't want to spoil your surprise is all" he said as he began to walk down the hall with Evy and Des walking by his sides. Dante was trailing behind them as they headed for the entrance hall

"So can I say something guys?" He asked Des and Evy, who both nodded for him to go on "I'm sorry how things went down last night for the both of you" He said as both girls looked down to their sides, both embarrassed by the events of last night. Evy because she needlessly hurt someone for her own gain and Des because her agreeing to meet up with Ven started a tension between her mother and Evy's mother, granted the tension was leavened a bit by Terra and who she assumed was Aqua who got her mother to settle down for Christmas but she still felt bad about inadvertly causing it. Especially since they were starting to become friends

"No I'm sorry" Evy and Des said at the near same times, Evy a word faster than Des. Evy and Des looked at each other amazed that the other said what they said

"No I'm sorry guys, you both did nothing wrong. I over reacted…" he said as he Looked over at Evy "… and tried to push things to fast" he said as he looked at Des "So lets just reset and be friends and all be friends is that all right?" He asked as both girls took a moment's thought before nodding

"Ok then well…" he said before he poked Evy randomly "…tag your it!" he said before rushing off. It took a second or two to process before Des and Dante ran off saying "you'll never catch us!" Evy let out a chuckle as she rushed after them and yelled out "oh yes I will!"

**Later…**

Des was walking back to her and her mother's room with her gifts in her arms, thanking Terra's master for using his magic to fix them when her father destroyed them in his fight with Terra. As she opened the door she saw her mom hugging her brother, her head leaning into his chest, and what sounded like crying emanated from her

"Whoa mom are you ok?" she asked as her mother lifted her head and looked at her daughter. Des was shocked by her mother's expression, instead of a sad expression it was joyous. "Mom?"

"Oh Des you won't believe what your brother just did for us!"

"Wh-what did he do?" she asked as Terra looked at her with a smile

"Dad is no longer a problem, you don't have to go back you have new home. With Aqua's family"

"What?" she asked thinking she miss heard

"You'll never have to deal with dad again. He may be strong but he's not strong enough to hop through worlds to find you guys" Des let a gasp as a small smile came gently on her face as tears began to build up on the edges of her eyes.

"Oh my god… thank you Terra" she said then rushed over to her brother and wrapped him a hug like her mother did moments ago.

"And that's what you walked in on" Terra said as Des let out a chuckle as kept hugging her brother who hugged back. Their mother watched her children celebrate their liberation as tears still gently rolled down her face with a smile still on her face. For the first moment in years she was in truly purely happy. And now did she truly feel she had control of her life again

**With Aqua…**

Aqua did eventually had to apologize to her mother for letting Dante and Evy fight with Travis. So as soon as Terra was brought up to speed on Dante she went back to her mother's room again. Her mother surprisingly wasn't as mad at her as she was at her younger children. She did say that she wished she could've tried just a little harder to get them back to her room but for the most part she was happy that she kept them safe.

"What kind of sister would I be if I let them get hurt?" she asked rhetorically as he mother let out a small chuckle

"Still thank you Aqua"

"Don't mention it but um… mom can I talk to you about something?"

"Um yeah sure anything dear" she said as Aqua took a deep breath then spoke. She asked her to let Destiny and Elise stay with her. That they wanted to move but there was nowhere in their world they could go where Travis wouldn't find them. So the only logical way for them to be safe was to go to a completely different world. She asked her to let them use her old room at least until they could get enough money to get a place of their own. Claire thought long and hard about this, she did like Elise as a friend and the travesty of a husband made her feel even more sympathetic towards. But then again she had only gotten to know her for a couple days, not enough to gage if she was a good enough friend to have her live in her house for a bit. Plus what of Des wouldn't she have any friends? She asked her daughter that, about how Des would feel about this, and Aqua told her what Terra told her. That his childhood wasn't easy, that all his life was training and that people who knew never wanted to hang out with him, he really didn't have any friends till herself and Ven. He said how Des' life was exactly the same minus the training. She had no life in her world because of her father, in a new world she could have a clean slate. With that last bit of information her mother began to think, really think. She thought for what seemed like hours but was only roughly about 15 minutes. Then out of the silence she finally said the something

"Tell them… my house is open to them" she said as Aqua smiled at her mother then walked over to her and hugged her

"Thank you mom thank you"

"You're welcome my sweet little girl" she said as she wrapped her arms around her daughter and shared a nice little heartfelt moment.

**6 days later, New Years Eve…**

In the last couple of days Terra had helped his family by running back and forth to their world and picking up his mom and Des' clothes, a couple mementos, and Des' bed then moving them to Aqua's world where she and her mother helped set up their room and moved Aqua's stuff to the castle.

While Aqua was in her world she paid her respects to her father and visted his grave. She let out a couple tears but kept a gentle smile on as she looked at his grave and said hi to him and what she has been doing since she last saw him. If it wasn't for her mother and Dante going up to her and giving her a pat on the back and a hug to tell her there here for her she probably would've stayed up there all day. She left her dad with a kiss on his grave stone and a promise that she would look after their family.

As Terra moved stuff between the worlds Travis wasn't didn't come up as a problem a problem at all, Terra looked into it and found out his old withered out grandfather found Travis in the streets in bad shape and took him to a hospital to get patched up. The doctors were keeping him heavily sedated because when he was awake he was forcing himself to get back up and go after his wife and kids again. Terra laughed at his handy work, as mean as that was. Terra helped his mom sell some things they couldn't take with them and knew Travis wouldn't really care if it was gone and raised up some money so that they weren't completely broke when they got there, Elise also emptied out her bank account to make sure she had the only money she could for when she arrived in her new home. When the last thing of any value was taken out of their house Terra, Des, and Elise looked one last time around their world. All the neon signs and bright lights, the beautiful fountain where Terra and Des would play, and lovely night sky with so many stars that they would look up to every night, this would be the last time they'd see them. Terra took a sigh then looked at his sister and mother

"I'm gonna miss this place" Terra said as his mother nodded

"Me too, even if this place does have a lot of bad memories it is where my two favorite memories were born" she said then looked at her children

"Yeah but as odd as it sounds I'm happy were leaving, this place always seemed to… gritty in my mind" Des said as Elise nodded in agreement

"I always kind of thought that too" she said then looked at her son then gestured for him to open a portal, which he did. The portal opened and they took their leave and last glimpse of their hometown before re-entering the castle.

"Are we done?" Aqua asked as Terra nodded

"Yep that was everything"

"Oh good it was hard setting up everything for you in her old room" Claire said to Elise who let out a chuckle

"You didn't have to set it up for us"

"It's ok we were more than happy to help"

"But still…"

"Hey guys!" Evy said as she ran up to the group

"What's up Evy?"

"Ven told me to tell you guys to go outside"

"Why's that?" Dante asked as his sister shrugged

"I don't know all I know is that he said it's a surprise"

"Well let's not keep him waiting let's get going" Elise said as everyone ran over to the front doors got their coats on and stepped outside. When they got out there they didn't see Ven anywhere

"Ven!?"

"Ven!" Aqua and Terra both shouted out to try and find him

"Where is he?" Des asked as from out of no where they heard two whooshing noises past them. They looked to the sky to see Ven and Eraqus on their gliders holding big bags in their hands

"Finally I was freezing out here!" Ven said as his master grinned and looked down at his students and guests

"Thank you all for coming and now if you will be so kind as to count down with me…"

"Wait it's that time already!?" Des asked

"Guess we really got lost in setting up everything didn't we?" Claire asked Elise who shrugged with a chuckle

"All together now 10!"

"9!" Dante yelled out as everyone joined along

"8…7…6…5…" everyone chanted as Master Eraqus and Ven flew off higher into the sky.

"4…3…" everyone said as Terra looked down at Aqua

"2…1!" Then at the stroke of one Ven and his Master threw out some of their individual bags contents then yelled out

"Fire!"

"Happy new year!" then the sky erupted with the fireworks Ven bought. But also as soon as Happy new year was shouted Terra leaned down and kissed Aqua's cheek. She jumped then looked behind her as Terra said

"Happy new year Aqua" Then Aqua reached up and kissed him on his lips, causing their mothers to let out awws as Des, Evy, and Dante were too distracted by the fireworks to notice anything going on. Ven and his master threw the last of their fire works out and let a grand finale unfold in all sorts of dazzling colors. At that moment Aqua and Terra broked their kiss as They looked at each other

"Guess this is a better gift then those fighting gloves I got you?" she asked as Terra looked shocked when she told him that

"Wait you got me those?"

"Yep but I guess they weren't that good if they didn't last long in that fight" she said remembering how torn they got when he was fighting. Terra took a moment to reflect then chuckled as he pulled he let her then put his arm around her and watched the finally

"Yeah a great memory like this is a lot better" He said as the last moments of the grand finale unfold with Aqua in his arm. With all the ups and downs that these three friends went through it was nice to know that from this point on everything was only to get better and stay that way so long as they had their families by their side and stayed together

The end

**Wow this is the longest chapter I've written for anything. Thank you all for reading I can't honestly thank you guys enough for reading my story. Really thanks**

**They'll be one more chapter, a deleted scenes chapter for those of you interested in what could've and almost was in this story. So yeah leave a review on this chapter or the story in general here and really thank you again see ya next time**


	34. Deleted Scenes

**Welcome my extremely loyal readers to the deleted scenes chapter for this lovely kingdom hearts fan fic. But before we get to that I just want to say how fun it was to write this thing. It truly has been a pleasure entertaining you all with the crazy stuff that comes out of the tips of my fingers from my brainus. Ha! Anyway through the course of this story I had to revamp certain ideas that I originally thought up from the original cut of this story. So sit back relax and realize what could have been**

**Almost a short story**

**This story almost was not. The original concept was from a one shot I wrote up for my deviantart account but I never uploaded it because I had trouble with a good way to end it. So after a long while of just tossing one bad way to end to another I came up with the idea to put it up on here and continue it to make it into a long chapter story. I believe I made the right choice don't you agree?**

**Confined to a chair **

**When I originally came up with Terra's family and back story Des was actually shot by that gangster. The shot paralyzed her from the waist down and was going to be wheeled around through most of the story by Terra or Ven making their friendship/relationship grow as they got to know eachother. Why did I get rid of this? I thought I made Terra's past sad enough and decided against it. Strangly enough because I got rid of this idea it made me decided to kill off Aqua's father so her side of the story had some drama to… I'm a terrible person aren't I? **

**Ven and Des' date on the beach**

**This idea was the original concept for where Evy swaps places with Des on her and Ven's 'date'. In this concept Ven was going to take Des/Evy to destiny island to sit on the beach and look at the sky. There was even going to be a cameo from Sora and Riku. But I got rid of it because how would Aqua and her mother know where Evy went if Des didn't, since Ven would of just asked her to come with him to a special place. So I got rid of it because it seemed unnecessary to travel to anymore worlds. **

**Santa isn't real**

**Not much to say on this one other than a brief thought was for Des, after her mother helped her out by undoing the pressure point thing that Evy did to her, saw Terra as santa and asked 'Terra why are you dressed like that?'. Dante then realized it was Terra and demanded to know where the real santa was but kept finding holes in any of the answers his mom or Aqua would give him thus leading him to the realization that santa isn't real and with him storming off. This was scrapped because… well guess I didn't want to make a little kid cry. I know it's just a character but c'mon he's my character and I get to decided how things play out for him and that's that**

**Never meant to kiss**

**That kiss at the end with Aqua and Terra wasn't suppose to happen in my first imaging of this story. I kind of just stuck it in their to give kudos to the Teraqua fans out there. Your welcome!**

**And that's it, not to much I didn't give a second thought to. But before I leave you all here's one last little bit of good news. There will be a sequel… spinoff thing for this story. It has Dante in it and it takes place in the kingdom hearts 2 era and he basically gets fed up of waiting for Aqua to come and he pretty much ventures to go find her himself. It's still sketchy but I am going to do it, think you'd read it? Welp I'll see you all later. Zumby101 signing off**


	35. Sequel message

**Hi guys, just a quick message. That sequel to this story I told you I was making is up and started. So I thought you guys would like to know. Remember it's centered around Dante but it'll have some call backs to this story. Ok readers see you there, its called invisible ties. **


End file.
